Two of a Kind, Working on a Full House
by AdmHawthorne
Summary: With True Love's Kiss already done, Emma now has to deal with a strange uptick in the power of her magic, which has now become unruly. Regina, meanwhile, has to deal with a suspicious town. SQ Follow up to 'Starting Over Again', but can be read alone. A lot of fluff.
1. Declarations

**This is the followup piece for "Starting Over Again." If you haven't read that one, you may want to, though I think you can follow along just fine if you haven't.**

**Characters aren't mine. They belong to ABC, Disney, and other assorted entities of importance. I gain nothing from writing these stories but the fun of doing it. Please don't sue me.**

* * *

"Are you sure we can't figure this out on our own?" Emma fidgeted in the passenger's seat of the Mercedes as it glided along the street toward the local convent.

"No, but I'd rather not take the chance, and I'm surprised you're willing to do so given the potential harm not being able to control your magic could cause." Pulling up to the curb, Regina casually parked the car and began to gather her things to get out. "We discussed this at length, Emma, and we both agreed it would be best to talk to Blue."

"Yeah, but," the blonde winced, "we'll have to tell her _everything_, and," she groaned, "I don't know. I mean, do we _really_ want to tell people _right now_?"

"No," the older woman responded calmly, resettling in her seat with a roll of her eyes. "However, they're eventually going to find out. It's not a matter of if but when."

"Also true." Wiping at her face, Emma glanced nervously around, looking through the car windows as if she was expecting to see something that would save her from what they were about to do. "You know, this is a lot easier to deal with when we don't have to actually talk about it."

"We haven't actually dealt with anything. We spent yesterday sleeping, woke up today, had breakfast, and now we're here." Regina sighed heavily, turning to stare at the closed convent doors. "In fact, the most we've done is kiss… _once_, so, really, what is there to tell?"

"THE KISS," Emma practically whined. "We're going to have to… we'll have to _say_ what that meant, and I just don't want…"

"What? What don't you want, Miss Swan?" The brunette's eyes sharply focused on the other woman, her breathing becoming slightly irregular. "You don't want to _say_ you're so attached to me? Is it so horrible?"

"Well, no." Straightening in her seat, Emma turned her body so she could look Regina fully in the eye. "But the fact that neither one of us is ready to actually _say _it says a lot, doesn't it? Look, I'm not ashamed, if that's what you're implying." At the incredulous look directed at her, she sternly shook her head. "_I'm not_, but I also hate the idea of predestination."

Regina tilter her head, a puzzled look flashing across her face. "What do you mean?"

"I _mean_ that, for both of our lives, we haven't really had a shot at _choosing_ much of anything, have we? _You_ didn't really get to choose, well, anything about your life that mattered until you got to Storybrooke. If it wasn't Cora forcing you to do something, it was Leopold forcing you to do God knows what – I'm assuming." Emma shot the brunette an apologetic look, noting the cold faced stare she was now receiving. "And, if it wasn't either of them, then it was Gold manipulating things or fairy dust telling you who to love, and, as for me?" She shrugged. "I was predestined to wind up here, break your curse, and be the savior… over and over and over…" She made a hand gesture to indicate the last part of her sentence was an infinity loop.

"And you don't like the idea of us being a predestined coupling, is that it?" Regina's face was completely devoid of emotion, her voice chilly. "You don't want to be with me in that capacity?"

"No." Emma quickly shook her head, holding both hands up as her eyes widened. "I mean _yes,_ but no."

Regina rolled her eyes, jaw tensing slightly. "Yes or no, Miss Swan? Which is it? You can't have it both ways."

The younger woman grimaced. "_Yes_, I want to be with you, Regina. God, I've wanted to be with you for longer than I realized. I mean, I can see it now that I _know_ that I want to be with you, if that makes any sense?" She waved her hand to dismiss whatever caustic comment was about to come from the other woman. "But, _no_, I don't like that we're somehow forced because, just once, I'd like for something we do to be an actual _choice_. God, Regina, don't you?"

The brunette stared at Emma for a long moment before her body began to somewhat relax. "I haven't been someone's choice in a long time, Miss Swan. Why should this be any different?"

"Okay, first of all, stop calling me Miss Swan. I know you only do it when you're being defensive or you're pissed off at me, and, since I know you're not mad at me right now, I can only assume you're being defensive, which you shouldn't be. Stop it. I'm not here to hurt you." Emma reached out, taking Regina's hand into her own and giving it a little squeeze. "Second of all, it should be different because _we're_ both different. You are not the same person who cast the original curse that brought everyone here, and I am not the same person that showed up at your doorstep one night. We're different people, and I'll tell you this now, Regina. You are way better than someone's 'forced to have'. I chose you. When I dropped Killian like a hot potato and put my focus on you, it's because I. Chose. You."

"And what? You don't want that cheapened by predestination?" Regina's eyes fell to their interlocked fingers. "Do you think what's between us would matter less somehow?"

"No, but it'd be irritating as hell." Emma chuckled at the hard look she got. "Well, wouldn't it? Besides, we've both been through too much to just accept things at face value. I want to know all of this isn't going to be yanked away from me if we decide to move forward with it."

"I have no plans to walk away." Swallowing, Regina broke eye contact, glancing back to the convent door. "I don't want to."

"Good because I don't want to, either." Reaching out, Emma touched the older woman's chin, forcing her to make eye contact again. "So, when we go in there and tell Blue _everything_, I want to make sure we're really ready for this because, Regina, once I actually _say it_, I don't think I can ignore it or take it back, and, frankly, I wouldn't want to."

"Nor would I." Reaching up, Regina pulled the hand on her chin away, effectively capturing both of Emma's hands in her own. "This will change everything, you realize? I'm honestly not sure how most of the town will handle this news, and I suspect there will be a fair amount of them who will immediately think I'm going to eventually try to kill you."

"Well, I'm not here to take anything from you you're not willing to allow me to have, and I will never stand in your way if what you're after is something positive, so I don't think there's a reason for you to take me out, is there?" Emma grinned.

Regina scowled. "You do realize I had your grandfather killed, do you not?"

"I kind of suspected, but, like I said before, I also kind of guessed that he, maybe, took things from you that you weren't really willing to give." The blonde shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "You never have to talk about it if you don't want to, and I'm not going to pity you if you do. You're a strong woman. You don't need pity, but I hope you know I'll always offer you my support."

"You're every bit a Charming, you know that?" Rolling her eyes again and pulling her hands back, Regina began to get out of the car. "So easy to forgive and so willing to let things remain buried in the past so you may ignore them."

"I'm not ignoring that you've committed mass murder, Regina," Emma snapped back as she stepped out of the car. "But I'm willing to accept it. That's not the same thing."

"Why?" The brunette slammed her car door shut to emphasize her words. "Why would you be so willing to simply accept that? I'm _not_ a good person, Miss Swan. You cannot overlook that fact."

"What you fail to realize, _Madam Mayor_," the younger woman snapped back, "is _neither am I_." She stomped around the car to follow the brunette up the stairs. "I'm _human_. I make mistakes. I have my own issues. I did a lot of questionable crap before I got here. I'm a convict, for God's Sake."

"Because of that Imp's treacherous offspring," Regina snarled in contempt as they came to a stop at the doorsteps of the convent.

"Yeah, well, it's not like he forced me to lie, cheat, and steal." Emma patted herself on the chest. "_I_ did that. _I_ made those choices all on my own."

"If he'd been a better man, he'd have taken care of you. He would _never_ have let a man made of wood talk him into letting you go to prison _alone_. It's absolutely absurd," the older woman bellowed. "You deserve better treatment than that."

"Yeah? You think? Because _I _don't. I was a bad person. I did bad things. I made poor life choices. The best think I ever did before I got here was give Henry up for adoption. That was THE least selfish thing I ever did up until Storybrooke." The blonde crossed her arms and glared. "Neither one of us are saints."

"Tell _that_ to your precious peasants," Regina flippantly replied. "If you ask them, you're God-like, and I'm Satan incarnate."

"Well, _they're wrong_," Emma passionately replied, dropping her arms and stepping into Regina's personal space. "You're _not evil_. You're a lot of things – irritating, a complete and total bitch, and arrogant… maybe even have some hubris, but you're _not evil_."

The older woman leaned in even closer, voice dropping low. "Then what am I, Miss Swan?"

"My foil," the blonde responded quietly, eyes flicking down to the other woman's lips. "And, to me, that makes you perfect. Screw what the rest of them say or think. The only one that matters is Henry, and he supports us."

Regina cocked an eyebrow. "Eloquent as ever, I see?"

"Shut up and kiss me," Emma responded before reaching out and grabbing the brunette by the back of the neck to pull them together. The kiss was quick, heated, and passionate. When they pulled away, they both felt over stimulated and barely in control. "You know," Emma said with a smirk, "when we finally make good on all of this, I bet neither one of us can walk well for a week."

Regina narrowed her eyes and pushed away, clicking her tongue in disapproval. "It's a good thing I like your company, Emma, because your crudeness is a turn off."

"You like it." Emma pulled back and stepped away, turning to face the large door and giving it a solid knock. "I can tell." At the questioning look, she nodded down at Regina chest.

The brunette looked down and blanched, quickly crossing her arms before a small blush started to rush up her neck. "I don't suppose the excuse that it's cool out here would do, would it?"

The younger woman grinned, eyes sparkling with delight. "Nope."

"Of course not," Regina groaned as the doors swung open and they were greeted by Blue, who looked confused and concerned at her unexpected guests.

The nun looked between the two woman, who were both slightly disheveled. "Sheriff, Mayor, is everything alright?"

"Yes and no," Emma answered, running a hand across the back of her neck.

"May we come in," Regina asked, glancing around as if finally realizing the last few minutes were in view of the public and acknowledging how poorly that entire scene could have played out had anyone happened upon them.

"Of course," Blue replied, clearly apprehensive. "Please, come in and follow me."

* * *

"So, what you're telling me is," Blue glanced between the two woman sitting across from her desk, "you're each other's True Love?" She raised her eyebrows, tilting her head as if trying to really understand what she was saying aloud.

"Yeah, that's what we're saying," Emma nodded, glancing over to Regina for confirmation.

"Considering Emma's kiss broke my curse, I'd say that's clearly the situation, yes," the brunette stiffly confirmed.

"And," Blue tapped the top of her desk with a forefinger as she thought over what she'd been told, "since this discovery, Emma's magic has apparently been magnified and has been working without her intentional control of it?"

"Yes," the blonde squirmed, chewing at the corner of her thumbnail. "I unintentionally healed _all_ of Regina's physical wounds, new and old, _and_ I accidentally repaired her house from the damage Hades caused."

Blue nodded. "And all of this happened when you were thinking about what, exactly?"

Emma glanced over to Regina again. The brunette only gave her a blank look in return. Sighing, the younger woman answered almost apologetically, "When I was thinking about protecting Regina."

"And what about you, Regina?" Blue turned her questioning eyes to the older woman. "Have you experienced any uncontrolled magical use or an uptick in the power of your magic?"

"No, but I am neither a product of True Love nor am I a novice magic user," the mayor answered with a shrug. "I would guess both have something to do with Emma's current issue."

"Perhaps," the nun thoughtfully replied. "You're right to be concerned. With the amount of bad will between Regina and the rest of the town," she held a hand out, palm up, toward Regina. "No offense."

The brunette shrugged. "None taken."

Blue nodded. "Yes, well, with _that_ amount of animosity still around, it's possible thoughts of protection could happen very frequently with you, Emma, _especially_ if Regina is your True Love."

"_Is_," Emma corrected. "And I know. That's why we're here. Neither one of us really knows what to do with it, and we thought you might know something that could help."

"I may, but I need to check a few things first." The nun leaned back in her chair, eyes continuing to flip between the pair. "Does anyone else know about this?"

"Our son is aware," Regina replied. "And Pain."

"Pain?" Blue shook her head.

"Yeah, he's the little demon guy that helped me out when I saved Regina, and he's kind of living with us right now," Emma explain with chagrin.

The nun cocked an eyebrow. "You have a demon living with you, _and _you're currently living _together_?"

"He helped to save my life. The least we could do is offer him sanctuary now that he's in a bad state of relations with the rest of his kind, and Emma was going to assist me at my home while I recovered, which, I suppose, she did do," the mayor answered in a toned that dared anyone to say otherwise.

Pushing away from her desk with a flourish and then holding her hands up as she stood, Blue commented warily, "Every day is a new adventure in this town." She motioned for the two women to follow her as she headed for the door. "I'll contact you in a couple of days to let you know what I've found. In the meantime, I suggest Emma works on her magical control, and it may be a good idea to stay away from any potential situations that would lead to triggering anything protective."

"In other words," Emma said with a sigh, "stay in the house and order pizza?"

"It might be prudent, yes." Blue opened the front doors of the convent for the two women and walked them outside. "On a side note," she said, a smile spreading across her face, "I'm glad you two have finally come to terms with your feelings for each other."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that," Regina replied with a roll of her eyes. "Coming to terms is far different from being forced into it, wouldn't you say?"

"Well, yes," Blue answered, her smile turning a touch plastic. "But love works differently for each couple. Perhaps this was the Universe's way of giving you a gentle push in the right direction?"

"If this is the Universe's idea of gentle," Emma snarked as she slid into the passenger's seat of the car, "I'd hate to see what the sledgehammer version would be."

As Regina started the car and nodded a goodbye to the nun, she muttered quietly, "Let's not tempt fate, shall we?"

* * *

"You mean I have to keep staying here?" Henry whined over the phone, causing Emma's speaker to crackle. "But Neal cries _all the time_."

"I'm sorry, kid, but it's honestly dangerous for you to be here right now." Emma frowned deeply. She really didn't want to leave her son at his grandparents', but, for now, it truly was the safest option.

"Don't worry, sweetheart. It shouldn't be for too much longer," Regina offered as some sort of placation. "I realize it's not easy to sleep with a newborn baby in the house."

"You can say that again," their son bemoaned. "So, how long?"

"We're not really sure," Emma answered apologetically. "But it won't be long, we promise."

"Our goal is to get a handle on Emma's magical issue as quickly as possible," Regina continued on in her best soothing voice, "so that we can bring you home."

Henry sighed. "Okay." He paused for a beat, and both his mothers winced as Neal's wails crawled through the line. "Can I go buy some earplugs?"

"Yes," they both answered and then smirked at each other.

"We're still giving you your allowance, kid. You should be able to get whatever you need, but, if something comes up, give us a call, okay?"

"Okay, Emma, but I think I'll be fine. Actually, I think I'm going to go to the store and get them right now."

"Ask your grandparents _first_, Henry," Regina warned and shrugged at the surprised look on the blonde's face. "You need to make sure they know where you are _at all times_. Goodness only knows what else might pop up in this town while your mother and I are under quarantine."

Emma's eyebrows rose to her hairline. She mouthed the words 'your mother' at the brunette who motioned between the two of them and mouthed back 'you are.'

"Okay, I will, Mom. I promise. You two will be okay by yourselves, though, right?"

"Yes, dear, we'll be fine." Regina rolled her eyes at her son's clear apprehension. "Emma and I aren't likely to kill each other."

"_Anymore_," the blonde added with a smirk. "Go talk to Mary Margaret and David about a trip to the store. Text us later to let us know how things are going, okay?"

"Alright, and you'll call me if you need something," he asked earnestly.

"Henry, we're perfectly capable of fending for ourselves," Regina replied with a chuckle. "Have a good evening, sweetheart."

"Yeah, and be good, kid."

"K, love you both!" With that, Henry ended the call leaving his mothers staring at each other from across the kitchen island.

"Well, I guess it's just you and me for a little bit." Emma leaned back on her stool and glanced around. "What should we do now?"

"I don't know about you, but I have paperwork to catch up on." Regina opened the fridge, pulled out two bottles of water, and turned toward her study. As she walked past the other woman, she deposited on bottle onto the island. "We can work on your magical control in a little while. I need to focus my thoughts for a bit."

"And doing paperwork does it for you?" Emma opened the bottle, taking a swig. "Kinky."

"Crude as always, Miss Swan," the older woman called out as she left the room.

Emma smirked, jumping from her stool to follow the other woman into the study. If she was stuck in the house with no way to really leave for the foreseeable future, she was at least going to find ways of entertaining herself, and paperwork definitely wasn't it. However, annoying the mayor? That was always a fun pastime of hers.

* * *

**Do a writer a solid and feed her ego? Reviews are greatly appreciated. ;-)**


	2. Family

"You cheated!" Pain pointed at the cards stacked on the coffee table in front of him, doing a little hopping, wiggling angry dance. "I know you did."

From the other side of the table, Emma grinned. "I did not. I won fair and square." She crossed her arms and leaned back against the sofa.

"As if! I saw you. You had that wild card stuck up your sleeve," Pain grumbled, pointing accusingly at her.

"What! I'm not even _wearing_ any sleeves," the blonde shot back, motioning at her bare arms. "I've got a tank top on. How in the hell could I possibly hide a card _up my sleeve_?"

Pain narrowed his eyes, tail flicking back and forth. "You cheated!"

"I did not!" Emma protested, getting louder each time.

"You did," the little monster shouted back.

"There's _no way_ I cheated," the young woman bellowed back. "_Do you know who you're talking to_?"

Pain snort. "As if I _care_. You cheated. I know you did. That's all there is to it." His hair began to bristle as he glared at her.

"_I'M A FREAKING __**CHARMING**__. WE DON'T CHEAT,_" Emma yelled back, nostrils flaring with anger and irritation.

"Children," Regina intoned from her spot at her desk, "you _both_ cheat. Let's not get too full of ourselves, shall we?"

"What?!" Both Pain and Emma turned from their spot in the floor to glare at the brunette.

"Regina, I _do not_ cheat at Uno," the blonde protested. "There's a lot of stuff I would cheat at, yeah, but Uno? Come on!"

"I don't cheat," Pain growled. "Hurt people, break bones, destroy things? Sure, but I'm NOT a cheater." He nodded his head toward the other woman, adding quietly, "_She_ is."

"Oh, that is _it_." Emma leaped over the coffee table, making a grab for the little creature. "Come here, you little punk!"

Sighing heavily, Regina slowly put her pen down and pulled her glasses off. She watched for a moment as the sheriff rolled around in the floor with the demon and made a mental note of how absurd her life had become in recent memory, even for someone who was, technically, a storybook character.

The two had been playing Uno for about half an hour while Regina worked on catching up on official town business. She thought they were entertaining themselves fairly well. Clearly, she was mistaken, and, if she didn't do something soon, they were likely going to break something in her house.

Rolling her eyes, she flicked her wrist, causing the two objects of her irritation to float in midair, just out of reach of each other.

"What they hell, Regina?" Emma floundered, trying to break free.

"That's enough," the brunette declared in the stern voice she usually only used on Henry. "I thought you two could play nicely with each other, but obviously you both need a time out."

"Okay, first of all, I'm not an 8 year old. You can't put me in a timeout," the blonde declared, though the angry glare she had on her face lost a great deal of its effectiveness since she was hanging in the air as if held by the nape of her neck. "Second of all, _put me down_."

"No, I think not." Standing, Regina slowly walked around her desk to come to a stop in front of Pain and Emma. "You two are going to have to get along if we're all going to be stuck in this house together for goodness knows how long."

Emma grunted, trying and failing miserably at reaching out to smack the demon. "_He_ doesn't have to stay here. _He_ can go."

"Hey! This is my house. Her Majesty said I could stay here so long as I did my share of the house work, and I _am_," Pain replied defensively.

"Mayor Mills, Ms. Mills, Madam Mayor, or Regina are acceptable, Pain," the brunette said with another sigh as she pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger. "The townspeople tend to get a little edgy whenever people start calling my by previous titles."

"Well, I'm not people. I'm a demon," Pain declared haughtily, "And, as far as I'm concerned, _you_ are now my queen."

"This is America. We don't do queens here," Emma grumbled just loud enough to be heard.

"I bet you would _like_ to," Pain shot back under his breath.

Before Emma could retort, Regina cut in again. "_Stop_. Whatever underlying issue is going on between the two of you, it needs to end. Emma, stop rising to his bait. He's a demon. His very nature is to get under your skin and cause you some kind of discomfort. Pain, you gave me your word you would not antagonize my family. I expect you to treat them with as much respect as you treat me. In case you've missed it, _Emma_ is not only a princess in her own right but my True Love." Her voice cracked on that declaration, but she ignored it and pushed on. "This means she will eventually be my queen and, by extension, your own. I expect you to treat her accordingly. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes," the little creature muttered, crossing his arms and looking anywhere but at the mayor.

Regina nodded and turned to the floating blonde. "Miss Swan?"

"Fine. Whatever." Rolling her eyes, Emma gave up fighting and hung limply in the air. "People really are going to freak if Pain keeps calling you that, though."

"I can't really _not_ do it," he said with a shrug. "As a sidekick kind of entity, I _have_ to have a ruler. I can't just be out on my own. It gets a little complicated, but the gist of it is that I have to declare my fealty to a specific person, and that person _has _to be either a God or Royalty. It's part of how I exist. If I didn't declare my loyalties to someone, then I risk getting zapped out of existence because, apparently, whatever created my kind thought we'd always need someone to control us so that we didn't 'get out of hand' or whatever." He sighed. "Right now, my loyalty is kind of up in the air because my last boss is dead, so..." He shrugged.

"You just said Regina is your queen." Emma shook her head, too caught up in this newest bit of information to care she was still up in the air. "How can your loyalty be in question?"

"Because I have to willing to receive his vow of fealty," Regina answered, waving her hand and letting them both unceremoniously fall to the floor. "With everything that's happened, there hasn't been a chance to go through the proper ceremony for me to accept him as one of my subjects."

"And I don't want to push because, you know, both of you are doing me a really big favor by letting me stay here instead of making me go back to the Underworld. If I went back there, I'd have to pledge my loyalty to Chaos, and then she and the guys would torture me for Eternity for helping you save Regina." Pain's tail drooped a little. "Honestly, I'm kind of homeless right now, and, if I don't get a master or mistress soon, I might disappear."

Emma frowned, forehead furrowing in concern. "How soon?"

"We normally get a week to find a new boss." Pain glanced up between the two women, tail completely dropping to the floor. "I've got about a day left."

Regina took in a sharp breath, face hardening. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because you were sick and hurt, and I didn't want to...," Pain floundered, lost as to why and not really sure of the answer. He whined, dropping his head. "I don't know."

"Regina, you have to do whatever it is you have to do," the blonde said in earnest. "I mean, he irritates the crap out of me, but I don't want him to die."

"Thanks?" Pain looked up with a genuinely happy look on his face. "That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said about me."

"If I accept your pledge of fealty," Regina declared, her entire presence shifting from the familiar person Emma and Pain had come to know into something far more cold and calculating, "you must also pledge fealty to my partner, the Princess," she nodded to Emma, "and our son, the Prince."

The little creature's tail rose just a touch. "I can do that. I really like the Prince. He's going to make a good King one of these days, and," he looked over to Emma and grinned, winking, "the Princess and I can make it work."

"I really dislike you," the blonde muttered, "and don't call me Princess."

Taking on an air of authority, Regina's chin rose, and she looked down her nose at the demon. "Very well," her voice sounded even and cold, "Let's hear it, then." She cocked an eyebrow and crossed her arms.

"Okay," the creature said as he sucked in a deep breath. Glancing once more to the blonde, he stood to completely face Regina. Taking as deep of a bow as his short, round frame would allow, he declared in a voice so serious Emma almost didn't recognize it as his, "I, Pain, Demon of the Underworld, Leader of Agony, Purveyor of Destruction hereby pledge my fealty to you, Queen Regina, Monarch of the White Kingdom, Heir to the Throne of Hearts, Mayor of Storybrooke. I promise to faithfully and honestly serve you, Princess Emma of the White Kingdom, Heir to the White Kingdom, and Prince Henry of the White Kingdom, Heir to the White Kingdom, Heir to the Kingdom of King George, and Keeper of the Heart of the Truest Believer. I pledge to loyally serve you and your family for the rest of my days or until such time as you choose to dismiss me from your service."

Regina considered Pain for a long, drawn out moment before giving a small nod of satisfaction and replying in a tone that could only be considered royal, "Very well, Pain of the Underworld, I accept your pledge, and, so long as you maintain your word, I and my family promise you protection and security."

For a second, the room fell silent. Emma was just about to say something when a dark purple cloud rose up to envelope the demon. She panicked for a split second and began to reach out to him only to pull back a moment later as the cloud quickly dissipated, leaving Pain looking virtually unharmed.

He blinked a few times, looking down to check over his body. "Your crest is a Mills Board below a flame?" He lifted his right arm, turning his side toward Regina. "Right?"

"Yes," the brunette answered with a smirk. She bent down to inspect the silver outline of her crest where it was tattooed into the purple hair of his body. "It's very fetching on you, Pain."

"It's better than Hades' mark," the creature dryly commented as he kept his arm held up for the brunette. "His was a pitchfork, which always confused me since the Trident is Poseidon's thing."

"That's your crest? I wondered what that was on the pocket of your pajamas." Emma peered at the mark on the creature. "So, does this mean that this crest is Henry's, too?"

"Yes. It's a family crest, Emma. Yours involves lions and flowers and looks just about as heroic as you would assume." Standing up again, Regina motioned for Pain to put his arm down. "In fact, the tattoo on your wrist is the same flower that's on your family's crest."

"Really?" Pulling her arm up, the younger woman inspected her tattoo. "Freaky."

"Slightly." Checking the time, Regina seemed to think something over. "I suppose we should have lunch and then start on your magic lessons."

"Wait a minute, I'm not done with this whole family crest thing." The blonde pulled a face somewhere between confused and thoughtful. "So, if we were to, say, get married, would my family crest be _your_ crest, or would _your_ crest become _my _family crest?"

"I am Queen," Regina replied, voice reverting back to the royal tone she'd had a moment earlier. "You are a Princess. That means you would marry into my family, not the reverse. Your crest would become my crest." Her face lost all expression, tone going chillingly even. "You would be of House Mills. I would _never _be of House Charming."

"Oh," the blonde shrugged dismissively, "okay. That works for me."

Regina frowned. "Just okay?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, that makes total sense, and, honestly, I don't care. I mean, we don't run a kingdom. We're elected officials, so the whole family crest business is more a novelty kind of thing in this world than something that matters. If we ever went back to the Enchanted Forest," Emma grimaced horribly at the idea, "then it would matter, but, _if_ we were married, it'd make total sense that I'd be a Mills and not a Charming because of what you just said." She shrugged. "So, yeah, that works for me, and I'm _starving_. What's for lunch?"

Rolling her eyes, Regina turned on her heels to head for the kitchen. "Caesar chicken salad."

Pain groaned. "Rabbit food?"

"I've got a steak thawing for you," the brunette said as she walked out the door.

Emma and Pain dutifully followed as Emma whined, "Why does he get steak and I get rabbit food?"

"One," Regina answer, irritation lacing her voice, "he's a carnivore. All he eats is meat, and, two, you're an omnivore who eats terribly. So long as you're living with me, you'll eat healthier if you want me to be the primary cook."

The blonde let out a long, overly dramatic sigh. "Fine. What can I do to help?"

"Feed the demon," the older woman said with a smirk. "The steak is in the fridge next to the tea."

"If you bite me," Emma warned Pain as she retrieved the steak, "I'm going to do really terrible things to you." She looked at the meat, clearly confused. "Do you eat this stuff raw?"

"Yeah," Pain answered in a 'well, duh' tone. "How else do you eat it?"

Emma shuddered. She pulled the meat out of the packaging and plopped it back onto the plate it'd been on in the fridge. "We cook our meat. Look, just... don't make a mess okay? Do you, uh, eat at the table or..."

"I'm not a dog, Princess," the creature replied as he snatched the plate away from her. "Got a knife and a fork or what? A spork works, too."

"You'll wait for us. I'm almost done with our salads," Regina declared, though her tone was much more genial than it'd been earlier. "And I don't own sporks. Now, take your food to the table, Pain, and then help Emma set it."

Huffing, he headed to the dinning table, leaving the women alone.

"We just got another kid, didn't we," Emma asked as she watched him go.

"In a manner of speaking," Regina answered with a nod. "At least this one doesn't require a babysitter."

"Our family life just gets more and more complicated..." Shaking her head, the blonde gathered supplies to set the table.

Regina chuckled, a smile playing on her lips. Unconventional though it may be, the family she was starting to develop was one she found she was enjoying. All things considered, she was starting to feel reasonably happy with her current situation.


	3. Mistakes

**A few notes here because I wanted to clarify from where I was coming last chapter.**

**First, Regina is Queen of the White Kingdom again, as is Snow. When they returned to the Enchanted Forest before the second curse, they agreed to co-rule the kingdom.**

**I realize many people think Regina's crest is the Tree of Life or an Apple Tree, but it's not. If you watch episodes in which the banners are being held for the Queen, you'll note that her banner started out as a white background with a large crown at top followed by the crest, which is a small flame directly above a Mills game board, or a Nine Men's Morris game board. After she decided to own the title of Evil Queen, her banner flipped colors. The crest moved to a black background, with a large red flame directly above a Mills game board. (If you want pics, google "Regina Mills Crest." I'd link it for you, but you know we can't do that on FFN.)**

**Once she cast the first curse, Storybrooke's town symbol was the Tree, but that's not the same as the crest for Queen Regina.**

**Finally, because Regina was reinstated after the end of the first curse as co-ruler of the White Kingdom, she would have a higher ranking than Emma, who is still only a princess. Regina is Queen. Therefore, Emma would marry into Regina's line, not the other way around.**

**Even if I'm not 100% accurate on that, it is my head canon, along with the fact Regina would _never_ accept being a Charming in any form or fashion, even if it was just to change her crest.**

* * *

"Don't say it," Emma groaned as she wiped the water off of her face. "I need to focus."

"Perhaps I should simply create a sign? I could point to it," Regina dryly commented as she turned the hose away from both of them. "It'd save _me_ the effort of having to continually repeat myself and _you_ the effort of having to say it for me."

"You know, it'd be easier to focus if I wasn't being hit with a water hose." The younger woman wiped at her face again, flicking the water off her fingertips and toward the other woman. "It's pretty distracting to have water shooting directly into your face."

"You said you didn't want a repeat performance of the gorge, and we need something that's frightening enough or irritating enough to get you to reflexively use your magic so you know what it feels like to then better control it, so I thought this would be effective." Smirking, Regina glanced down over the completely soaked blonde. "I did warn you not to wear a white shirt."

"Yeah, thanks for that," Emma replied with a huff. "I wondered why you insisted on me wearing a black shirt, but you could have warned me about the water. I'd have worn a swimsuit, or at least shorts. These jeans were not intended to be worn wet."

"I would imagine not." summoning her magic and flicking her wrist, Regina turned the spout off as she dropped the hose onto the water soaked ground. "You could dry yourself if you focused."

Emma rolled her eyes. "Of course I could, and what do I focus on?"

The brunette shrugged. "Being dry."

"Just like that?" The younger woman chuckled. "I just think to myself, 'Gee, I wish I wasn't so wet because of Regina,' and – BOOM – I'm dry?"

"Well," Regina tilted her head, smirk still firmly in place, "if you insist on not being wet because of me, then, yes, I suppose that's one way to do it."

"I don't want to be wet at all!" Emma motioned down her body with her left hand as she pointed at the other woman with her right. "_This_ is not the right kind of wet, Regina."

"And here I was thinking we were going to be subtle today." The brunette chuckled. "Silly me."

"If you wanted subtle, you are with the wrong Swan." The blonde gave herself a shake, running her hands through her hair to wring it out. "Okay, but, seriously, how do I dry myself off?"

"As I keep saying, you need to concentrate. In this particular case, focus on what it's like to feel dry." Regina let her voice drop into a soothing cadence as she watched the younger woman close her eyes. "Think of both how you feel emotionally and physically when you're comfortably dry. Allow your magic to replicate that." She smiled as she watched Emma's magic begin to swirl. "Whatever and whomever you associate with that feeling, add that to the emotions you use to tap into your magic, which should help speed the process along."

The magic rose quickly, enveloping Emma and fading away to leave a dry savior in its wake. "That… work!" The blonde looked down at herself, excitement clearly evident on her face. "It actually worked!" She grinned up at the brunette, seeking approval.

"Nicely done, dear." Regina nodded. "Now, shall we try the hose again?"

"NO!" Emma held her hands up. "At least, not until I get these off because it's hard to focus when all I can think about is how uncomfortable my jeans are. Hold on." She walked over to the porch and sat down on the edge. Carelessly, she pulled her shoes off and dropped them on cement, followed by her socks, and then she stood up to shimmy out of her jeans. Once they were off, she dropped them in a heap next to her shoes. "Okay, let's do this again."

"In just your tank top and underwear?" The older woman visibly swallowed.

"Now who is getting who wet," the blonde asked, a cheeky smirk on her face. "What? You can't handle me like this? The second time we ever met, I was in something just like this."

"Yes, and I was trying to give you a basket of my fruit to eat." Regina waved her hand dismissively. "Playtime later. The quicker you can get your magic under control, the quicker we can return back to normal."

"Normal as in you hate me and we never so much as talk or normal as in we're still… um… True Loves and you don't hate me and maybe we can make out on the couch or something?" Emma tugged uncomfortably at the bottom of her shirt as she glanced away, a blush crawling up her neck.

"If all you want to do is neck a little, Emma, then I feel you have very low expectations of the near future," the brunette replied, voice gone low and a little hoarse.

The younger woman sputtered. "Well… I… didn't want to… you know, assume…"

Regina hummed in reply and picked the hose up again, flicking her wrist to use her magic to turn the spout on again. "Remember, to keep from getting hit with the hose, you have to focus and repel the water."

"Step one," Emma commented as she squared herself to get ready to be douse, "become a water bender."

"Step two," Regina continued as she swung the stream of water toward the younger woman, hitting her squarely in the face, "become the next Avatar."

"Funny." The blonde grimaced, holding one hand up to block the water. She closed her eyes and, instead of picturing a blockade of some kind as she had been doing, she pictured the water bending away from her. When she opened her eyes, the stream had been diverted to her left. "Oh my God, I'm actually bending water."

"Now, what can you do to confine it?" Regina gave the hose a little shake, pleased to see the disruption didn't cause any issue with the younger woman maintaining her control.

"I could," Emma looked pain. The concentration to keep the water out of her face mixed with trying to figure out what to do next was almost too much of a strain, "Make a container for it. You know? Like a hole in the ground?"

Regina winced. "Just remember that whatever damage you do to my backyard you'll have to _un_do."

Taking in a deep breath, Emma grunted in acknowledgment. She took her eyes off the water, turned them to the ground, and a hole began to form. The corners of her mouth turned up a little. She felt good. The water was still not hitting her in the face _and_ she was creating a place for it to go. She was getting the hang of this.

Her confidence crumbled a moment later when Regina shook the hose again, breaking the brittle control Emma on the water, and the stream hit her in the face yet again, throwing all her concentration out the window along with her balance.

She fell face first into the muddy hole she'd created.

From her dry vantage point behind the water hose, Regina cackled. "That's a very fetching look for you, Miss Swan."

"Oh, shut up, Regina," Emma shouted, turning in the mud so her ass wasn't up in the air. "Could you at least give me a hand?"

"Of course," the brunette smiled, turning the hose and spraying the other woman off as best she could. "Better?"

"I really, _really_ hate you sometimes." With a heavy sigh, Emma flopped backwards, not even caring that she was going to be caked in mud from head to toe. "Just bury me here. It'll be easier than us keeping this up forever."

"So fatalistic?" Regina turned the water off again and walked to the edge of the mud. "You were doing well, dear. It just takes practice."

"If you say so," the younger woman replied apathetically. "At least no one else is here to see this."

"Perhaps we've done enough for now?" Reaching out, Regina offered a hand. "Let's get you out of there and cleaned off. If you'd like, you can take a bath. You're welcome to my tub."

"Since you're the one who got me into this mess," Emma groaned, reaching out to take the offered hand as she pulled away from the mud and grunting against the suction the action was causing, "I think I'll take you up on that offer." She groaned, the mud was thicker and deeper than she'd realized when she'd plopped backwards into it. Now that she was trying to get out of it, she was honestly having a hard time.

Annoyed and frustrated with how her day was going, she gave Regina's hand a hard tug as she tried to pry herself out of the mud pit only to throw the older woman off balance and into the mud with her.

"MISS SWAN!" Regina seethed, mud crisscrossing her clothes and splattering over her face.

"Brown is a good color on you," Emma said through her chuckles.

"You did that on purpose!" The brunette pushed away, effectively sitting herself directly down into the mud. She winced. "Honestly…"

"Oh come on! That was an accident." Laughing even more, Emma picked up a hand full of mud and flung it, hitting the other woman squarely in the chest. "That wasn't, though."

"You're incorrigible," Regina declared. Narrowing her eyes, she smirked as a large ball of mud floated up from the hole and hurtled toward the blonde, hitting her directly between the eyes.

"Really?" Emma wiped at her face. "That's how it's going to be, huh?" In answer to the smirk she received, she raised a hand, mud floating up on either side of her. She motioned forward, and the mud followed, slamming against Regina and covering her almost completely.

The battle was on.

Each volley of mud was more creatively thrown via magic than the other as they tried to outdo each other. Eventually, it wasn't enough to use their magic, and handfuls were flung, some hitting and others landing around the yard.

Regina dodged a throw from Emma, using her magic to defect it, and Emma retaliated by lunging forward and pinning the older woman down with her magic while she held a ball of mud in her hand.

She smiled in triumph.

Regina froze, breathing going from fast to almost panicked. "Please don't," the brunette nearly whispered, uncharacteristically small and unsure. The entire mood shifted as her eyes grew and she fought against her unseen restraints. "Let me go. Please let me go."

Leaning back on her heels, Emma released her hold. "What…"

"Don't do that." Regina's voice hardened. "_Never_ do that again."

Emma's face fell. "I'm sorry. I was just…"

"I _know_ what you were just trying to do," the other woman cut in. "Never do it again. Never, under any circumstances, restrain me against me will again."

"Okay," the blonde quietly replied. Tilting her head as if thinking over something, she asked gently, "What can I do?"

"Nothing." The disgust was clear in Regina's voice. "There's nothing you can do. There's nothing anyone could _ever_ do." She climbed out of the mud pit, and, in one wide sweep of her hand, used her magic to repair her yard and clean them both up. "I don't like to be restrained, Miss Swan."

"I'm sorry. I should have thought about that." Emma reached out to touch the brunette on the arm but stopped short when chilly eyes met her own. She dropped her hand, accepting the fact she'd messed up. "You know I would never force you do anything you didn't want to do, right? I'm not like that, Regina. I would never intentionally hurt you."

"You hurt the ones you love," Regina dryly commented as she turned toward the backdoor. "That's the nature of things."

"No." Emma sprinted to catch up, catching the door and keeping it closed. "That's _not_ the nature of things. If someone loves you, they don't hurt you _on purpose_. They're supposed to protect you. They're supposed to keep you from getting hurt, not be the ones doing the hurting." She shook her head. "I'm really sorry. I'll never do that again."

"I think I'm going to go take a bath," Regina declared, pushing the door open. "Do what you'd like."

As the door closed, Emma hit the house with her fist, cursing herself for being stupid. What had she been thinking? Of course Regina wouldn't be okay with being restrained without consent.

Grumbling at her own stupidity, Emma turned to pick up her clothes and think over how she was going to make it up to the other woman.

* * *

Regina sank down into the warm, welcoming bath. The bubbles provided enough cover to make her feel isolate, and the dimmed lights allowed her to feel enclosed. It was comforting and reassuring.

No one could get to her. No one could find her.

She was safe.

Inhaling deeply, she took in the scent of the candles she had burning nearby, a combination of leather and things that reminded her of long ago days when she happily rode horses and secretly delighted in her visits to the stables. The scent of bergamot followed from the oils she'd added to her bath. It soothed her more as her mind recalled pleasant times of comfort with her father by her side.

She slowly exhaled, trying to get her body to relax and her mind to stop running through all the ways she could protect herself from being restrained again.

It was reflexive. She knew why her immediate reaction was to find a way to fight back in a subversive way, but she also knew Emma wasn't her enemy any longer, and she knew Emma wasn't trying to force her into anything.

Emma simply didn't know.

She scooted further into the water, pulling her ears below the waterline to float within the little bubble of solitude she'd created. As she routinely did whenever she felt this way, she moved to run her finger over the scar left along the top of her right thigh from an encounter with her mother in which she had ended up thrown into the nearest haystack, which happened to have a pitchfork still in it. Feeling the scar was Regina's way to ground herself. It reminded her of how she was _supposed _to be, of what the expectations were of her.

But, this time, as she reached for the scar, all she felt was smooth skin. She felt panicked. Cautiously, she moved her hand around her thigh to search for the scar, thinking perhaps she'd just touched the wrong spot, but there was nothing there. It was then she recalled what Emma had done for her. She had unintentionally removed every scar on her body.

Regina closed her eyes. She suddenly felt like a stranger in her own body. Every scar, every reminder of who she had been, was gone. The scars were her reminders of what was proper. Mother had always said so. It was why Cora had never completely removed the scars. 'Little reminders of why you should be a good girl,' was always the reason she would give.

Now Regina had no more reminders, but, then again, even with the reminders, she hadn't remained a 'good girl.'

The question came back to her as it had when she had wiped out her memory. Who _was _she?

She wasn't the good girl her mother insisted her to be. She was never Snow's mother or Leopold's wife. She was never a beloved Queen. She never had the chance to be the wife of a stable boy. She was mayor, but, really, that was often in title only these days. She was Henry's mother, but so was Emma.

She accepted she was hated by most, despised by some, and mistrusted by all but a few. She had well and truly earned that reputation. She understood the impossibility of ever changing everyone's opinions of her, and she was fine with that.

But what about herself?

Could she change her opinions about herself, and was she okay with doing so?

She wasn't sure, but what she did know was she couldn't blame other people for her personal actions and reactions. Her baggage was her own, and she'd grown enough in recent times to take ownership of the fact she had created most of her own problems.

Taking in another deep breath, she let it in slow bursts, focusing on the rhythm of releasing the air as a way to calm her mind and settle herself. She mentally pushed the existential questions regarding who and what she was out of her mind and, instead, forced herself on completely unfocusing her thoughts, which, over the years, had become a daunting task to accomplish.

After a few moments, her mind floated as freely as did her body, and she relaxed even more. By the time the water began to chill, she found herself feeling better and far more centered. Reluctantly, she climbed from the tub and pulled the plug. She debated taking a shower, but her inner voice began to nag her about appearance, and she gave in.

Stepping into the shower to wash off the smells she'd eagerly put into her bath, she began to recompose herself. The scent of apples and cinnamon replaced the smells of bergamot and leather. In short order, she was herself once again. Composed, in control, and perfectly presentable.

With a final once over of her clothing, a pair of gray slacks with a black, short sleeved silk Oxford tucked in, a belt and flats to perfectly accent the simple outfit, she nodded.

Everything would be fine.

Reaching for the door, her body fell into the faultless posture and exacting poise everyone associated with her, and she walked out of her bedroom and back into the world as the woman she knew how to be, one of authority and control.


	4. Setbacks

After taking a hot shower and changing into dry clothes, Emma decided her best course of action was to wait it out. Experience told her trying to push Regina or offer an apology when the other woman clearly wasn't in the right mindset to accept it was a bad idea.

So, instead of trying to make amends for her poor choices earlier, she decided to at least be productive and start dinner.

The kitchen was as intimidating as she recalled it being. She debated ordering food instead of trying to navigate the pristinely kept kitchen, but her pride won out over her fear of accidentally breaking something, and she headed to the freezer to see what her options were.

Unsurprisingly, the freezer was fully stocked with meats and vegetables. She considered trying her hand at making something fancy. She had the knowledge now, and she knew she could do it. She'd cooked for Henry and Walsh when she'd been in New York, but the idea of something she considered to be a fancy dish being served after the debacle she created in the backyard seemed wrong.

Staring at the frozen food, she let her mind drift over what she might be able to make until something caught her attention. She smiled, nodding to herself as she pulled out the meat to defrost it. Something fancy was a terrible idea. However, comfort food wasn't, and, if her memories from New York were an indication, she had a good idea what Regina's comfort food was.

Pulling her hair back before she washed her hands, she started to move about the kitchen to find everything she needed. It wouldn't make up for what she'd done earlier, but maybe she could at least help Regina feel a little better.

* * *

A familiar smell wafted up from the kitchen as Regina descended the stairs. At first, she thought she was imagining it, but, as she drew closer, the smell became stronger. Raising a curious eyebrow, she quietly walked into the warm kitchen to find Emma standing over a pot on the stove.

The blonde's hair was pulled back and she wore a comfortable looking pair of sweatpants with her signature white tank top. As Regina watched, Emma swayed back and forth while she stirred something on the stovetop. Occasionally, the younger woman would hum a tune Regina recognized but couldn't place.

The smell, however, she could firmly identify. "Lamb stew?" Her voice was harsh, an edge there where there hadn't been in quite a while.

Turning, Emma offered a small, almost apologetic smile. "Yeah, I figured you'd probably be hungry once you were done with your bath." She stepped to the side to reveal the food she was tending. "It's almost done. Would you like to taste it?"

Stepping further into the room, Regina narrowed her eyes at the pot. Nostrils flaring just a touch, she crossed her arms and leaned over to look into the pot. "Why lamb stew?"

The younger woman sighed heavily. She didn't want this to turn into another fight. "I thought you might like it," she answered honestly. "If you don't want it, I understand. I can always have it for lunch over the next couple of days." She crossed her arms, looking away at the barely concealed distaste on the other woman's face. "I've also got bread baking."

Regina's eyes quickly flicked from the stew to the other woman. "Fresh bread and lamb stew?" She gave a little shake of her head. "How did you know?"

Emma allowed herself a tiny smile. "You told me." She tapped her temple with a forefinger. "When you taught me how to cook."

Nodding, the brunette's eyes went back to the food. In much a quieter voice, she commented heavily, "You didn't have to do that."

"I know." The blonde stepped closer, pulling a clean spoon from a drawer as she went. "I wanted to. I… uh… you know, sometimes it's just nice to eat something that reminds you of not so bad things." She grimaced, mentally mocking herself at her inability to never say the right thing at the right time. Dipping the spoon into the stew, she pulled it out with a bit of broth and a small cut of meat on it. "Here, try it. Tell me if I got it right or if I completely botched this, too." She held it out, eyes pleading with the other woman to take the peace offering.

Regina stared down at the spoon for a few seconds before gingerly taking it from the younger woman and blowing on it. She tentatively ate the bite, eyes going a smidge wider as she tasted the food. "It's perfect, Emma," she whispered after she swallowed. "Just like Cook used to make."

"Really?" The blonde almost squealed. "That's great! I mean, that _is_ great, right? It's good?" She started to squirm. "It's okay?"

Despite her foul mood, Regina couldn't help but chuckle. "Yes, it is." Glancing around her kitchen, she noted how clean and orderly it still was. "I see you learned more than how to cook while you were in New York."

"You rubbed off in me in a lot of ways," Emma replied with a roll of her eyes. "I think the bread is almost done. Would you mind pulling out a couple of bowls?"

"And some wine, I think," the brunette said, her way of giving up her own peace offering. "I hope you like reds."

"I prefer them," the younger woman called out at Regina's retreating form. "I also like your cider!"

"Noted," the older woman replied as she went down into the basement to fetch a bottle.

* * *

"I know this is none of my business," Emma started, already wishing she hadn't when Regina threw her a look that screamed she was treading on thin ice, "but who was Cook?"

From her spot on the other side of the island, the older woman glanced toward the stew still simmering on the stove top and sighed. "She was one of the servants Mother employed. Obviously, she was the cook."

"Well, yeah." Letting out an aggravated sigh, Emma tried again. "Besides being the cook, was she… um… was she someone important? I mean, you said the stew was just like she used to make, so I was wondering if…"

"You could nosey into my past?" Regina's face fell into even harder lines.

"I just want to know about you, Regina. Is that so bad?" Emma set her spoon down and pushed the bowl away from her. "No one knows anything about you, but I _want _to know."

The brunette took a thoughtful sip of her wine before she responded curtly with, "Why?"

"Why?" It was the blonde's turn to sound incredulous. "Because I want to get to know _you_, the real you, not the Mayor or the Queen. Because I want to understand what makes you happy and what makes you sad so _I _can find ways to make you happy and stop myself from doing dumb shit that makes you sad. Because I care about you, which means I care about what you care about. I want to know what interests you outside of scaring the crap out of people and making sure our son is healthy and happy. Why?" Emma gave an offended snort. "Why _wouldn't_ I want to know everything you're willing to tell me about you?"

"And what about you?" Regina's eyebrows rose in challenge. "Hmmm? You're not one to willingly share, now are you?"

"No, I'm not," the younger woman answered honestly. "But, for you, I'm willing to try if you want to know."

The brunette's mouth twitched down. "You're so much like your mother at times it's frightening. You think a few shared experiences means we're suddenly going to be the best of friends. What makes you think I even _want_ to…"

"Don't do that," Emma cut in, eyes narrowing. "Don't push me away because you're pissed off at me or scared of the idea of letting someone in."

"Don't tell me what to do, "Regina snapped, body going rigid. "I am my own person, Miss Swan. I'll do as I please."

"Okay." Pushing away from the island, Emma stood and took her dishes to the sink. "Fine. I get it. I screwed up royally." She rinsed them off and put them in the dishwasher. "You have every right to be ticked off at me. I completely deserve that, but I'm not going to fight with you anymore, Regina. I feel like we're past this, and maybe I'm wrong. Who knows? What I _do_ know is that we're stuck in here together until I get my magic under control, and, since it's pretty obvious you don't want to be around me right now, I'm going to go back outside and keep working on it." She nodded to the stew. "I'm guessing you can handle putting that up."

When Emma had gone into the backyard, Regina finally moved, going through the motions of putting her own dishes into the dishwasher and starting the task of putting away the food. Once her kitchen was back to rights, she allowed herself just a brief moment to turn and look out the backdoor toward Emma. Much to her surprise, the young blonde wasn't practicing magic. Instead, she was sitting on the ground beneath the apple tree, head leaned back and eyes closed.

As Regina watched, the other woman wiped a hand down her face. Emma's body language bespoke of wariness and defeat, not of defiance and challenge as it normally did. The sight yanked the edge off the brunette's feelings. Emma had done so much for her without ever wanting anything more in return than a positive relationship, and, if Regina were to be honest with herself, that's what she wanted, too. She wanted something good between them, not the constant bickering there was before.

Running a hand through her hair, she pushed away the internal voice that always nagged at her, telling her emotions were a weakness and needing someone else was a fault. Quietly, she strolled outside to the tree and took a seat next to Emma in the grass.

"Her real name was Felicity, which I always thought was appropriate because, as a child, she was one of the few points of joy in my otherwise turbulent life," she offered in a soft tone. "Father and I called her Cook because it annoyed her, and she was great fun to tease, though she never took it to heart. Whenever Mother was displeased with me, Cook always seemed to know, and I would find a small bowl of lamb stew and a bit of fresh bread waiting for me in my room. Often, Mother would send me to my room without an evening meal when I had been a particular nuisance to her that day, and Felicity was always able to somehow predict when that would happen and have the food waiting for my arrival."

"She sounds like a nice person." Emma's voice sounded brittle. "What happened to her?"

"Mother happened to her," came the dismayed response. "Somewhere within my vault lies Felicity's heart."

The blonde's eyes flew open and she turned to look the older woman in the eyes. "I'm so sorry, Regina."

"It happened often enough," the brunette answered, turning to look away from the anger burning in other woman's eyes, "I eventually learned never to get too close to anyone lest Mother see them as a threat to her plans for me. That's why I knew I had to keep Daniel a secret, but, even knowing what she would likely do if she found out about him, I was still imprudent and naïve enough to believe her when she told us she understood the night she found us trying to run away together." A humorless chuckle crawled out of her throat. "For the briefest of seconds, I honestly thought she'd let him live and allow us to marry." She shook her head at herself. "Foolish, foolish girl that I was."

"I don't know what to say to that." Reaching out, Emma offered her hand, though she didn't actually touch Regina. "It makes me angry to know you were forced to be alone like that all the time. Even though I was in the system, I still had people who I could talk to, even if it was just my case worker." She let out a relieved sigh when her offered hand was taken, though Regina still didn't turn to look at her. "But I get what it's like to be alone. I _do_ understand that. What I don't understand is what it's like to be forced to be something you don't want to be like that. I can't even imagine."

"It's trying," Regina answered in a dark tone. "You can do things you never thought possible if you're pushed enough."

Emma nodded. "I believe that."

A long, pregnant pause settled between them as they digested everything everything said and left between the lines. In time, Regina commented in a rough, tired voice, "I'm not an easy person to love, Emma, and I'm even a harder person to know." Finally, the brunette turned to meet the younger woman's eyes. "None of this will be easy."

"Uphill from this day forward," the blonde said with a little smirk. "If I wanted easy, I'd still be with Hook."

"And probably have tetanus by now," Regina retorted. "Honestly, what did you ever see in that man?"

"His guyliner had serious game," Emma answered with a shrug. "I mean, have you seen it? It's pretty impressive."

"I'll admit that, for a man with only one hand, it is rather extraordinary how well he applies his makeup." The brunette smiled a little, eyes starting to warm. "Just give me some time?"

Emma nodded again. "Of course, but please don't shut me out when I do something that triggers you, okay? Tell me, and I promise I'll do the same thing. There's stuff that I can't handle well either, like," she winced at the thought, "leather belts. I don't really like having thick leather belts in the house."

"Nor do I." Regina gave the hand in hers a squeeze. "I think perhaps we've done enough for today, don't you? What do you think about watching a little TV?"

"You watch TV?" The blonde was already trying to stand up. "I don't believe it. What do you watch? PBS?"

Rolling her eyes, Regina stood to follow. "No, although I do like _Antiques Roadshow_. Normally, I watch TNT, TBS, Food Network, or Cartoon Network. Occasionally, I'll watch MSNBC, but that's very rare."

At that revelation, Emma swung around and gawked. "You do not! Really? You watch Cartoon Network? Seriously?"

"I liked Toonami, and I normally try to catch Adult Swim." The brunette shrugged at the disbelief on the sheriff's face. "_King of the Hill_ amuses me."

"You are just a wealth of surprises," the younger woman commented merrily as they headed into the den. "I bet you watch _Family Guy_, too. Don't you?"

"Perhaps," Regina answered with a touch of mystery in her voice as she slid down onto the sofa to get comfy. "Let's just say I understand the finer rules on how to obtain my money if you should ever decide to not repay me on a loan."

"Oh god!" Emma chuckled. "You're great, you know that?" Without a second thought, she plopped down beside the other woman, leaned in, and gave her a quick peck on the lips. The easy motion scared her, and she stopped moving, terrified she'd mess up again.

The brunette smirked, leaning in for another kiss before reaching around the blonde to grab the remote. "The deer-in-headlights look is good on you."

Shaking herself, Emma's shoulders dropped out of the tension they'd just been in. "I believe," she declared as she started to cozy up to other woman, "that there was talk of a make out session at some point in the near future. Is that consideration still on the table?"

"Between commercials, Emma," Regina dismissively declared with a gleam of mischief in her eyes. "_King of the Hill_ is starting."

"God, you're so frustrating sometimes," the blonde huffed, settling for laying back against Regina.

The brunette smirked. "I hate you, too, dear."

* * *

**ALL THE EMOTIONS! (Seriously, though, that was way harder to write than I thought it was going to be.)**


	5. Learning

"Regina," Emma gasped out as she unsuccessfully attempted to pull away from the other woman, "we should stop."

The brunette pulled back from her assault on the sheriff's neck just enough to make eye contact. "Do you really want to," she husked out, eyes shimmering with want and desire.

"No." The younger woman shuddered, closing her eyes against the onslaught on her senses. Everything felt heightened, and everything was full of Regina. She tasted Regina on her lips, felt the other woman on her skin, she breathed the brunette in, and all she could hear was the ragged, needful breath of the older woman. Everywhere, there was nothing but Regina, and Emma felt overwhelmed and thrilled at the same time. "But, if we keep this up, we're going to end up with nothing between us but air while we're still on the couch in the den."

Regina's smile was devilish. "Don't tell me you've never had a little fun on a sofa before."

Shaking her head a little, Emma sat back, pulling her shirt down where the other woman had somehow managed to slide it up during the heavy make out session. "Oh, I've had plenty of fun on a couch, but that was back when I was trying to not get caught by my foster parents or somebody else's parents." She tumbled off the sofa, barely keeping upright after unceremoniously teetering against the coffee table. "The last time I checked, we have access to a perfectly good bed, and what the hell would we do if Henry decided not to listen to any of us, like he does, and walked in on us naked and sleeping together on the couch?"

That thought was enough to pull Regina from boil to simmer. "I see your point." Gracefully, she stood, turning the TV off in the process. "Would you like to join me upstairs?"

Emma growled low in the back of her throat. "The coming of the Zombie Apocalypse couldn't keep me from going upstairs with you right now."

Knowingly smirking, Regina sauntered out of the den, putting an extra bit of sway in her hips and chuckling when she heard Emma come barreling after her a few moments later.

* * *

Emma's phone buzzed loudly for the third time, and she ignored it in lieu of continuing to snuggle against Regina's warm back. She didn't care who was calling. There was nothing in any realm that was important enough to pry her away from being wrapped around the brunette.

"God, Emma, answer it," Regina slurred out, still half asleep. "It could be Henry."

"Kid texts," the blonde replied in an equally sleep slurred voice. "Probably Mary Margaret."

Turning on her back, Regina slowly opened one eye and looked over at the flashing phone. "Then give it to me," she demanded, voice still much deeper than normal.

Not even bothering to hesitate, Emma rolled just enough to grab her phone from the charger. Turning back, she dropped it onto the other woman's stomach before digging back under the covers and once again wrapping herself around Regina. "There should be a law against calling people who are trying to get some sleep."

The brunette chuckled. "It's 8 in the morning. Most people are awake and working by now."

"_Most_ people didn't spend _most_ of last night doing really amazing things to each other for hours and hours," Emma replied before yawning widely. "Not that I'm complaining."

The phone rang again, and, this time, Regina answered it in her best mayoral tone. "Sheriff Swan's phone, Mayor Mills speaking. How can I help you?"

"_Regina?" _Mary Margaret's voice sounded both confused and worried. _"Is Emma okay?"_

"She's fine, dear." Regina flipped the phone onto speaker and dropped it back onto her stomach. "Why do you ask?"

"_Because you're answering her phone. Why are you answering her phone if everything is okay?"_

"Because she's sleeping," the brunette lied, looking down to smirk at the woman laying on her.

"_And you have her phone? Why doesn't she have her phone with her?"_

"What makes you think she doesn't?" Regina began to play with the blonde's hair, wrapping it absentmindedly around her fingers.

There was a long, painful silence. Regina could practically hear the wheels turning in Mary Margaret's head. Suddenly, there was a sharp intake of air on the other end of a line and then a muffled grunt. _"Can you reach over and wake her up? I need to ask her a question about Henry's school project."_

The cockiness Regina had been feeling vanished at the mention of her son's name, replaced with irritation that she wasn't good enough as a mother to be consulted regarding her son. "You could ask me."

"_Somehow, I doubt you know anything about how to juggle. Henry's been learning for the talent show in a few weeks, and he's having problems with it. Emma knows how to juggle. I thought I would ask her for some tips."_

"I recall his project," Regina snapped and immediately relaxed when she felt Emma's hand brush lightly across her side in a soothing motion.

"Tell him," Emma said, clearing her throat a few times to keep her voice from cracking with sleep, "to stop watching his hands and watch the thing he's juggling. It's all in the reflexes. I know he already knows the pattern to use. He's just over thinking it."

"_Emma?" _Mary Margaret sounded happy and a little mortified at the same time. _"Are you okay?"_

"Fine," the blonde replied, clearly annoyed. "I'm fine. Regina's fine. We're all fine, _and_ we were sleeping until you called a bazillion times. Come on, Mary Margaret, you didn't call me just to talk about Henry's juggling act."

"_Well, you can't blame me and your father for being worried. What if something had happened to you while you were both cooped up in that house? How would we know?"_

"The giant, rolling ball of fire exploding out of the top of my house would probably give it away," Regina deadpanned with a smirk.

Emma rolled her eyes but smiled. "There's nothing to worry about. Regina and I aren't trying to kill each other..."

"Anymore," the brunette inserted helpfully, shrugging at the glare she received for it.

"I promise you we're doing fine," the younger woman finished as she rolled her eyes again.

"_When you're able to come home, I'd like to set aside some time to talk to you." _Mary Margaret had a note of pleading in her voice. _"I'm sure you have questions about... some things, and I think I could help you with it."_

"If I start wondering about how to deal with True Love, I'll be sure to give you a call. Right now, all I want do is sleep a little more." Emma picked the phone up, rolling onto her back but keeping Regina's shoulder as her pillow. "And thank you for not freaking out about all of this."

"_Don't thank me,"_ came the cold, stilted response, _"I am absolutely freaking out about this, and, if it wasn't for your father and Henry, I probably would be demanding to know what kind of spell you're under."_

Emma threw her head back and groaned. "Really?"

"_They gave me an extensive list showing me all the times you two have saved each other and outlining why it made perfect sense you two would be perfect for each other, and," _the defeat oozed out of Mary Margaret's tone, _"I can't say I disagree with them."_

"How kind of you, Snow," Regina dryly commented.

"_All I ask is that you don't purposefully hurt her, Regina." _There was a softness to the request. It wasn't a threat but an echo of some long held wish. _"No matter how all of us interact with each other, we are a family, and I do care that both of you are happy."_

"Great!" Emma sat up in bed, pushing the covers off both of them. "You know what would make me happy right now?" She didn't give anyone a chance to respond. "Sleep. Sleep would make me _super _happy right now, so I'm going to hang up the phone now. I promise I'll call you tonight, okay?"

A heavy sigh came from the line. _"Okay, Emma. Sleep well …and you, too, Regina."_

The phone went dead before the blonde could end the call or Regina could respond. "Well, that was awkward," Emma declared as she put her phone back on the charger.

"What did you expect when you handed me your phone," the other woman asked as she leaned back to watch Emma in the morning light.

"I didn't. I was still asleep. My brain doesn't work when I'm still asleep." Turning around to take her place again, the young woman stopped and stared, holding her breath for a beat. "You're really stunning, Regina." She blinked slowly while her eyes traveled down the exposed body of the brunette. "You're the kind of beautiful people want to base marble statues and oil paintings on."

The brunette slyly smiled. "And so they have."

Emma chuckled. "Somehow, that doesn't surprise me." Scurrying across the mattress, Emma rushed in for a stolen kiss. "Were they all nudes?" She waggled her eyebrows for effect.

Regina snorted. "Not a one. Could you imagine the scandal? The Queen posing for a nude? What indecency is this?!" She leaned in and kissed the other woman on the neck. "In truth," she said as she pulled back to slide from the bed and head to the master bath, "very few people have seen me fully nude."

"Well," the blonde watched her go, allowing her some private time in the bathroom, "I feel privileged now."

"As you should," came the response just before the bathroom door closed.

* * *

"Better." The approval in Regina's voice bolstered Emma's resolve. "Keep the water out of your face, and try to do something else."

"Like what?" Emma kept her eyes trained on the water as she used her magic to bend it away from her face.

"Something simple that's non-magic related." The brunette glanced around the backyard to think of a helpful suggestion but came up empty.

"Can I ask you questions about when everyone was still in the Enchanted Forest?" The lilt of the blonde's voice told Regina she knew this was a topic to approach with caution. "I've still got questions about things."

"And I still have questions regarding your time before you arrived here," the brunette countered. "Tit for tat?"

"So, what?" Emma quickly glanced up at the woman holding the hose, and the water started to bend back toward her. She panicked for a quick second, turning her eyes and most of her concentration back onto keeping herself dry. "I ask you something and then you ask me something?"

"That would be what 'tit for tat' implies, yes." Regina gave the hose a shake to twist and turn the water. Much to her delight, the other woman still managed to remain dry, though it was clear there was much effort to do so. "Would you like to start?"

"Did you ever use your magic just to mess with someone," the blonde asked with a grunt as she tried to keep her magic focused and the water from hitting her while the other woman shook the hose. "Besides doing it to try to kill Snow, I mean. Did you, like, do stuff just to jerk around your staff?" She was speaking in an almost aggressive tone while the water tried unsuccessfully to hit her. "Because, if I could get a real handle on my magic, I'd probably use it to mess with people just for fun."

The brunette chuckled. "These are you pressing questions?" She pursed her lips in thought as she made figure eights with the water. "There were a few in my personal guard whom I enjoyed fooling on occasion. One was terrified of dogs, so I would occasionally enact an illusion spell when he was guarding me. I had a good time watching him try to decide if he wanted to run from the giant dog coming at him and risk my wrath for leaving me unprotected or remain at his post and risk the dog eating him alive."

"That's just evil, Regina." Emma raised her hand and flicked her finger forward, surprised to feel a surge in her magic and a more focused point bolt from body and hit the water, causing it to splash backwards. Regina easily deflected it away from herself with her own magic.

"I'm the Evil Queen," the older woman retorted. "It's in my title, dear. It really shouldn't surprise you at how I entertained myself when I wasn't plotting to kill your mother."

"_Were_," the blonde corrected. "You _were_ the Evil Queen, and," she carefully motioned with her hand, testing her newly discovered ability to hyper focus her magic by using hand gestures. The water moved with the motion of her hand, "I would have laughed, too."

Regina chuckled. "Who says the Savior doesn't have an evil streak?"

Holding her arm in front of her and her palm out flat, perpendicular to the ground, Emma imagined a shield between her and the water. She smirked in triumph as the water hit the shield and dispersed in all directions, leaving her dry and making a pretty pattern as it crashed against her magic. "I never claimed to be good. That was other people claiming it for me."

"Of course," the brunette replied, voice full of approval at the new skill her student had learned. "My turn," she said a little too eagerly. "When you weren't chasing people down or running from the police, what did you do?"

"You mean between the end of my incarceration and the time I decided to go into bounty hunting?" The shield wavered as Emma's focus did, and the water nearly hit her. She gasped, dodged the stream, and then refocused her magic to again bend the water away from her.

"Yes. I highly doubt you went straight into bounty hunting, and there is a gap in the time there. Even Sydney couldn't figure out what you were up to." Lifting her free hand, Regina motioned, causing the water to move in an unpredictable pattern counter to what the blonde was doing with her own magic.

Emma cursed under her breath but reacted well enough to only be marginally sprayed. "I didn't," she answered between swears. "I lived in the bug for a few months and picked up odd part-times jobs. I was supposed to live with a friend of mine, and that's the address I gave my parole officer, but she kicked me out when her boyfriend got back from wherever he was." She ducked under the oddly crisscrossed stream of water, taking a step back so she would no longer be in the middle of the maze she and Regina were creating with their magic. "My PO would visit her place, and I would make sure I knew what day he was going to show up so I could prove I was living there, and the few part-time jobs I had were enough to prove to him I had steady employment."

"You lived in your car?" The older woman sounded more concerned than disgusted. "No wonder you can sleep anywhere."

Emma shrugged. "It's a skill." The water maze was growing steadily as the women countered each other. For every twist or dip the brunette caused in the stream, Emma would counter it to prevent the water from hitting her. It was turning into a rather competitive game. "I sort of fell into the bounty hunter job. My bondsman was griping about someone skipping out one day when I was in to make a payment, and I shot off my mouth and asked him, if I caught the guy, would that cover what I had left on my bond. He told me yes, gave me everything I needed to know to find the guy, and I did." She raised her free hand and a small flame started to appear in her palm. "After I handed the guy over to my bondsman, he handed me a card for a bounty hunter he knew, and I apprenticed with that guy while I got certified. The rest is history." The flicker became a respectable ball of fire. She smirked as she tossed the fire ball into the middle of the web of water and watched with satisfaction as it dissipated into a blast of steam.

Regina cursed at the sudden explosion of heat. The surprise was enough to cause her to drop the water hose, and she came close to losing her balance in the process. "Cute," she drawled in annoyance.

"I was getting tired," the blonde replied with another shrug. "We've been at this for over an hour now."

"And you've been improving," the other woman said as she walked to the side of the house to turn the water off. "However, I suppose a break wouldn't hurt."

"I demand couch time," Emma declared while she strode across the soggy lawn to reach the older woman. "With you and maybe some food after that."

"After?" Regina cocked an eyebrow. "What comes before?"

Leaning in, the blonde gave her a deep kiss as she settled her hands on the brunette's trim waist. "Couch time is before," she answered between kisses.

"I see," was the breathless reply she received.

"And I would like to make sure you _can't_ see for a little while." Emma pulled the other woman closer. "Unless it's stars. I'm good with you seeing stars."

Regina's smile turned predatory as she leaned into the younger woman's hold. "Forget the couch," she growled between nips and kisses along the blonde's neck, "how about we skip to the bed and eat something far more fun than whatever I have in the kitchen?"

Emma groaned. "Sounds perfect to me."


	6. Setback

"Regina," Emma sounded whiney and tired, though she couldn't bother to care. "I need to get out of here for a little bit."

The brunette huffed, her back muscles tensing a little under the younger woman's light caresses. "You want to leave my bed?"

"No, that's not what I meant." The blonde looked down at the other woman laying on top, moving her head just enough to place a kiss on Regina's forehead. "I like it _here_, but," her hand stopped moving, settling uneasily on the brunette's waist, "I'm getting stir crazy in this house. I'm not used to being stuck in the same place for a long time. Ever since prison, I've never liked being cooped up somewhere for longer than three days at a time."

"It's still dangerous for you to leave." Sitting up slowly, Regina moved to lay on her side facing Emma. "You're better at controlling your instinctive use of magic. The fact you're realizing how to focus your magic and create simple spells while doing other things is proof of that, but what if something happens to trigger your reflexive protectiveness of me? I don't feel confident you're at point yet in which you could recognize quickly enough what was happening and control the reaction."

"I think that," the blonde answered slowly as she raced through options in her mind, "if you stayed with me I would be okay. The magical protection thing happens when I feel like you're in danger, but, if you're with me and I can see you're fine, then I think I would be fine."

"Yet whenever your magic has worked in favor of my protection recently, it hasn't matter if you could see me or not. It was a matter of your desire to make my situation better in some way." Regina sighed, sitting up to lean against the headboard. "Still, I don't want you to associate our home with prison. Perhaps we can give it a try, but, at the first sign you're starting to feel uncomfortable on my behalf, I want you to tell me so we can leave or alleviate the situation, and why are you looking at me like that?"

Emma was staring at the brunette with a mixture of awe and deep-seated affection. She gave a dorky smile, blushing slightly. "You said 'our home' instead of calling it your house."

Regina's eyebrows knitted in confusion for a brief moment before she understood. "I, well," she glanced away, feeling suddenly exposed. She reached down to pull the sheet up to cover herself as she looked anywhere but at Emma. "You're welcome to think of my house as your home if you'd like." She was suddenly very drawn to a nonexistent spot on her pristinely white sheets.

"What's that saying?" The playfulness in Emma's voice made the older woman frown even deeper. "Home is where the heart is?" Chuckling at the look of faux disgust that ran quickly over the brunette's features, Emma leaned over to nudge Regina's shoulder with her own. She smirked at the scoff she received in return.

Regina glanced over with a roll of her eyes. "Must you always be so… so…"

Emma waggled her eyebrows. "_Charming_?" Regina snorted. "Charismatic? Magnetic? Romantic? Adorable? Endearing?"

"Will you stop," the brunette snapped, though the bite was lost through the chuckle in her tone. She sighed. "This is all going very quickly, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but most stuff with us does. I mean, think about it. We went from each other's arch nemesis to friends in less than week's time." Emma shrugged. "I'm pretty sure you hated my guts until our second day in Neverland, and then I don't know what happened, but I'm glad it did."

"I never hated you." Running a hand through her messy hair, Regina looked almost ashamed. "You were a threat to everything I'd worked so hard to achieve. I knew who you were from the first moment I laid eyes on you, and I was terrified of you destroying the happy ending I'd finally made for myself. It wasn't that I hated you, Emma," she admitted in a quiet tone as she turned to finally look the other woman in the eye, "it was that I was afraid of you."

"How could you have known?" Emma slowly shook her head in disbelief. "Was it because you kept your memories?"

"No." Glancing away again for a quick moment as she gathered her thoughts, before turning a sad gaze back on the blonde. "When I first got Henry, I had Sydney pull a few strings and obtain the closed adoption forms. When I read that his mother was an orphan who was found on the side of the road not far from Storybrooke, I put the pieces together. The chances of that abandoned baby being anyone other than you were slim to none. After I realized who and what Henry was, I had every intention of giving him back to the adoption agency. In fact, I _did_ bring him back there, but…" She rolled her eyes toward the ceiling to stop the tears that threatened to fall. "He was so perfect, and I felt as though he was the only one in all the realms who believed in me. Even then, as an infant, he had such a capacity for love, and I just _couldn't_ give him back. He was my son, and I was determined to not let my fear of losing my happy ending get in the way of raising him. So," she took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, "I destroyed the paperwork on you, took Henry to my vault, and mixed up a potion of forgetting so I could forget my fears of the possibility of you coming to take Henry away _and_ destroy my happy ending. The potion worked… until you arrived on my doorstep and Henry introduced you as his _real _mother."

She shook her head at the memory. "Then the potion wore off and who and what you were came back to mind, along with my fear that you would destroy me."

"Does the kid know you did that for him?" There was reverence in Emma's tone. "Does he know you put your needs behind his like that?"

"No, and why would he? It's my job as his mother to protect him. I didn't do it so he would feel indebted to me later in life for it. I did it so I could focus on raising him well and being a good mother to him, which," the older women's mouth twitched down, "I suppose is up for debate as to whether or not I actually succeeded in doing."

"You're a good mother, Regina," the blonde offered without hesitation. "You _are_, and Henry was lucky you found him. I don't think anyone else could have done a better job." Reaching forward, Emma placed her hand gently on the brunette's cheek. "I know you're doing your best, and I know _he_ knows. That's all you can do, and that's what matters."

"Thank you," Regina whispered. Pulling Emma's hand down, she took in a breath to clear her mind. "We could try having dinner at the diner. Do you think you could handle that?"

"I make no promises if someone decides to get snide with you," Emma answered honestly. "But, oh my god, yes… _please_ can we go? I need to get out of here. I don't think you understand how badly I need to leave the house for a little bit."

"Well, let's take a shower and get dressed, then." Regina slipped from the bed, throwing a furtive glance at the woman she left there. "Coming?"

"I hope so," the younger woman muttered as she quickly slid off the bed to follow.

* * *

"This is nice," Emma said with a touch of awkwardness in her voice. The diner was busy enough to allow them a bit of privacy in the corner booth in which they were seated. "No one is staring, everyone is leaving us alone, and the special tonight isn't lasagna."

"Thankfully," Regina answered with a tiny nod. "What are you getting? I presume a burger and fries since I refuse to allow you to eat that tripe at home."

"Actually, I was thinking of going with the apple pancakes. For some reason," the blonde replied with a mischievous smirk, "I'm starting to have a serious thing for apples."

Despite herself, Regina chuckled. "I can't imagine _why_ that is." She casually flipped through the menu as if she were confused as to what to order. "If it's any consolation to you, I _am_ actually considering a burger."

Emma let out an overly dramatic gasp. "I can't believe it. You watch cartoons _and_ you eat things that are bad for you. Who are you and what have you done with Regina?"

"She's been replaced by a more likable and less manipulative version of herself who seems to find the sheriff of this town far less annoying than did the previous version of herself." The brunette carefully set the menu down to reveal a sparkle of humor in her eyes and a smile playing on her lips. "I'm sure she'll eventually come back and kick me out town. Perhaps you should enjoy my company while you can?"

"Hmmm," the blonde pretended to consider the offer for a drawn out moment. "Do I get to do things to you that are unspeakable in public?"

"Only if you promise to finish what you start, Ms. Swan," Regina replied in her best mayoral tone, allowing the smirk to finally show as the other woman gave a little shiver.

Before Emma could respond, Ruby stepped up to take their order. Her eyes flickered between the women and her nose twitched as if she were scenting the air. "Soooo…." She grinned, "Roasted swan for the Mayor and apple pancakes for the Sheriff?"

Emma narrowed her eyes. "You don't serve roasted swan here."

The waitress shrugged, grin still bright and devious. "No, but, from what I'm smelling, I'm willing to guess that the mayor has been enjoying sw…"

"_That's _quite enough, Ms. Lucas, thank you." Regina's look was close to a death glare. "How much do you know?"

"Mary Margret is terrible at keeping a secret, and its worse when she thinks something bad has happened to a family member." Ruby shrugged. "I know everything."

"Which means everyone else does, too." Emma groaned. "Is that why everyone is trying to _not_ look at us? I figured it was just the usual of not wanting to piss Regina off."

"Well, to be fair, Regina's managed to get people to mostly stop hating her over the past couple of months, and she's even made a few friends, so I don't think everyone is as terrified of her as they used to be." Ruby gave the mayor an apologetic look to which she received only snide indifference. "But, if I were guessing, I'd say the rumor running around like wildfire that you two are each other's true loves _and_ that you've been holed up at the mansion for a few days in a row after figuring that out probably has a lot to do with everyone trying to not stare, yeah."

"Oh my god." The blonde slowly closed her eyes and counted to ten. "It didn't even occur to me how that would look on the outside looking in." She rubbed at her forehead, trying to force the impending headache away. "Did Mary Margaret also happen to mention the reason we've been 'holed up' at the house is because I've been having problems controlling my magic, and Regina has been helping me gain more control over it?"

"That might have slipped her mind," the waitress said with some concern. "What kinds of problems?"

"It doesn't matter," Regina cut in. "What matters is that we've been working on it, and Emma's been making great strides towards getting everything back under control. Now, may we order?"

"Oh, right." Ruby blushed. "What can I get you?"

* * *

"You body slammed her?" Regina laughed a real, hearty laughed, which seemed to echo through the tiny diner as people quietened down at the sound, though neither she nor Emma seemed to notice the reaction. "I can't imagine how she responded to that."

"Not that great, but she made me break my favorite pair of heels!" The blonde held her hands up in a show of innocence. "I figured that, if she was going to make me run after her in my heels, thus causing me to break them, then I was going to make sure she didn't go anywhere after I caught her."

"I wish I could have seen that. I bet she was shocked." The brunette smiled. "You're much stronger than you look."

"I had a good four inches on her, so it really wasn't that hard for me to do. Look, I _told_ her not to run. She ran, and there were consequences." Emma shrugged. "There was no way I was letting her get away. Her bounty paid off two of my credit cards and the repairs I needed on the bug at the time. Jesus Christ himself wasn't going to stand between me and catching that woman."

Regina gave the blonde a pleased look. "You're tenacious, Ms. Swan. I like that."

"I bet you do," Emma replied under her breath before she took a sip of her water.

The brunette let out another genuine laugh, and, this time, the room fell silent. "Yes, yes I do, but, then again, there are quite a few of your attributes I've come to appreciate."

"Get a room!" The voice on the other side of the room cut through the little private bubble the two women had been in all evening.

Both of them snapped around to find the person shouting at them in the now extremely quiet establishment. Their eyes landed on a very drunken dwarf.

"It's bad enough that _you're_ the princess's true love," Leroy slurred at Regina. "Do you have to rub it in all of our faces like this?"

The brunette heard Emma groan and could feel the magic from the other woman starting to bubble. "Focus, Emma," she whispered before turning her attention back to Leroy. "We've done nothing salacious tonight. Is it a crime to sit and have an enjoyable dinner in public now?"

"No, but maybe it should be," he shot back, standing to stumble his way over to their table as the quiet crowd watched. "You don't even care how much this hurting Snow, do you?" He directed the question to Emma. "Charming says she's been crying for _days_."

"I care," Emma replied evenly, face mimicking the mask of indifference she'd seen so often on Regina's features. Her concentration was split between paying close attention to her magic and Leroy. "But I'm not going to apologize for how things have turned out. We'll eventually work it out, but those issues to work out are between me and Mary Margret. They don't have anything to do with you or anyone else for that matter."

"Of course it has to do with me _and _everyone else," he slurred angrily back at her. "Our Queen is…"

"Regina." Emma definitely raised her chin. "If we were back in the Enchanted Forest, Regina would be your queen, Snow would be your princess, and they would be co-ruling the kingdom just like they did before the second curse brought you back here." She could feel a trickle of sweat starting to run down one side of her hairline. The concentration to keep her magic in check and deal with Leroy was almost too much. It caused her to disassociate with her emotions so she could control her magic, which made her sound cold and calloused. In that moment, she didn't care.

"Snow only did that to keep Regina in check," he protested. His bleary eyes shifted to the brunette. "They should have executed you when they had the chance."

"Perhaps," Regina replied with a curt nod of her head. Her eyes flicked to the blonde for a split second as the magic she felt bubbling pulsed for a moment before being pulled back. She considered simply walking out with Emma, but she recognized the need for the younger woman to learn control. It was unfortunate her best lessons were in sink-or-swim situations such as this. Focusing her own magic, just in case, she considered the clearly inebriated dwarf. "Perhaps I should have killed Snow the many times I had the chance?"

She was baiting him on purpose now. She wanted to see how Emma was going to handle this. Leroy had started it, and Regina decided to take the opportunity. Also, she couldn't say she'd be upset if the dwarf was accidentally hurt as a consequence of his actions. He always had been a pain.

"You're _still_ evil. You were evil then, and you're evil _now_. Nothing's changed." He wiped at his mouth where the spittle was starting to form. "I don't care what Snow or Charming says. I think you've done something to the princess. You've got her under some kind of spell or something."

"Leroy," Emma's voice was deep and harsh. "That's enough."

"Maybe Blue can fix you?" He looked at her, honest concern on his face. "She can undo whatever this witch did to you."

"Regina hasn't done anything to me." The blonde's volume raised a tick with her irritation. She was visibly shaking with the strain on her body from controlling her magic. "I think it's time for you to go home."

"I think it's time for you to see that nothing good is going to happen here." He motioned at Regina with his head. "She's manipulative, Emma. She only does things for herself. It's not like your mom who sacrificed…"

He never finished his rant. The precious control Emma had over her magic broke with his declaration of Regina's selfishness, and, in a split second, he was flying through the air.

Regina managed to my react soon enough to catch him with her own magic before he flew into something or broke anything. He floated in the air as she held her hand up to keep him there. "You should have listened, dwarf. Emma _did_ tell you to leave us alone."

"God, Leroy, I'm so sorry." Emma sounded both apologetic and panicked. "I thought I had better control than this." She stood, conflicted between leaving and remaining to try to fix the damage she might have caused but didn't because Regina was there.

The brunette let the dwarf fall to the ground in a heap and turned to look around the diner at their audience. "Emma is having difficulty controlling her magic because of recent events which have, apparently, increased both her level of power and magical potency. Without getting into a great deal of detail that I neither have the patience to tell you nor that I think you deserve to know, she and I are working on her regaining her control. Until such time as that happens, if she asks you to back down, I suggest that you do. I may not always be around to keep you from being hurt if you anger her and her magic accidentally asserts itself to fix the unpleasant situation in which you've put her."

Standing, she took a few bills out of her purse and laid them on the table before looking over at the still upset blonde. "Shall we?"

Numbly, Emma nodded yes, and they left the diner to go find sanctuary in their home away from the gossip that now began all over again about them as soon as they were out of the door and beyond earshot.

* * *

**Reviews are an awesome and much appreciated thing. :-)**


	7. Planning

"She nearly broke my neck!" Leroy rubbed at the back of his neck while he nursed a beer. "She could have killed me. That's not Emma. That's that witch's influence on her."

"Since when have we gone back to called Regina 'that witch?" Ruby frowned deeply as she wiped at the counter. "And, really Leroy, you provoked her. Emma warned you to stop. You should have stopped."

"But Emma _did_ attack him?" David took in a deep breath while he attempted to sort out the details.

"I'm not sure it was intentional," the waitress replied with a nonchalant shrug that seemed out of place given the grave seriousness everyone else seemed to hold for the situation. "I mean, it was pretty clear she was trying to keep herself in check while Leroy was going off on her girlfriend."

Mary Margaret winced. "Can we not? I'm not… there with that yet."

Ruby gave her an apologetic look. "Right, sorry."

Clearing her throat, the pixie haired woman moved on. "Well, I suppose we can assume what we've been told about the situation with Emma and Regina is somewhat accurate. The fact Regina bothered to save Leroy instead of letting him get hurt is evidence that she's at least not trying to perpetuate anything negative Emma's magic might conjure up accidentally."

"Which is good," David said in an uncertain tone. "But it also means Emma is a walking time bomb. I mean, it's not a question of if but when will someone say something about Regina that sets Emma off again."

"Well, maybe this is the town's chance to stop being how they with Regina?" At the weird looks everyone threw her direction, Ruby shrugged. "Look, I'm not saying Regina isn't guilty of a lot of things because she is, but so am I and so is Whale and so are a lot of us here. It's just that none of the rest of us were powerful witches or powerful _enough_ of a witch to do what she did. I'm also not saying that I don't hate her a little bit because I do. She tried to kill my best friend more times than I can count and she destroyed a lot of people's lives, but," she rolled her eyes, realizing how small of a corner she'd just painted herself into, "she's Emma's True Love, _and_ she's also saved all of us multiple times over when she didn't have to."

"Only because she got us into all of this to start with," Leroy snapped before finishing his beer and letting the mug thud onto the counter loudly. "If she hadn't cursed us, then we wouldn't have had to deal with Pan or the Wicked Witch or any of it. That's all _her_ fault."

"And, if I hadn't told Cora about Daniel, Regina would never have turned out how she did to begin with," Mary Margaret added in dismay. "Maybe it's poetic justice my child is Regina's true love?" She shook her head, muttering more to herself than talking aloud, "It sort of completes the circle."

"Regardless of the whys and hows," David cut back in, "the fact is they _are_ each other's true love, and, since that's the case, we're _all_ going to have to do better by Regina if for no other reason than out of a respect for Emma."

"Why should Regina get a free pass just because she loves someone?" Leroy turned on his barstool to look around the diner. "No one else would. What makes her so special?"

"I killed and ate my boyfriend," Ruby said in a matter-of-fact tone. "I terrorized the people around me, and who knows how many other people I killed or hurt. I'm no angel, and you seem perfectly fine with me."

"Also," Whale stood up from his spot at one of the tables, "I've done unspeakable experiments on humans, created monsters from once living people, and," he grimaced at his admissions, "I brought Regina's first love back to life as a murdering monster, and, in the end," he sighed, "she had to kill him a second time by her own hand, _and,_" he pulled the word out as he thought over how much more he wanted to say, "I may have promised her years ago I could bring him back to life if she gave me a heart, which she did, and I used it to resurrect my brother instead."

"Well, aren't you chivalrous," Eugenia asked with a bite to her tone.

"Well… no." The doctor grunted. "That's my point. I'm not at all, yet the town seems to accept me just as well as anyone else, and, yes, I do have a list of grievances regarding Regina, but, after having a few years to consider them thoroughly, even I have to admit that… well… a lot of it I brought upon myself." He shrugged. "But that's beside my point, which is I, too, am no angel, yet no one treats me as they did Regina, and I assure you I've done some truly horrifying things in the name of science."

"Rumple is The Dark One," Belle stepped in, ignoring the pointed look she received from the man in question. "Even though I've always known there was good in him, I'm not blind to the things he's done. He's done some," she took in a deep breath and glanced back at him, a sad smile on her face, "very bad things. There's a reason why his title is The Dark One." She turned back to her audience. "But none of you treat him like you treat Regina. I'd venture to say you treat him better."

"Fear is not the same thing as respect," Gold countered in an annoyed voice. "People fear me, Belle, and that's fine by me, but," he looked around the room, making certain everyone was paying attention to him, "you don't have that same fear of Regina, do you? You once did, so what changed? What happened to make you fear her so little that you could safely hate her, hmm?" His eyebrows rose in question. At the silence that greeted him, he shrugged. "Well, I see no one's going to answer, so let me do it for you. _She_ changed, and, in so doing, she went from the thing you all fear in the night to a person you could sympathize with, and, if you can sympathize with your monsters, then you can see yourself in them, and who wants to see yourself reflected in the eyes of a monster? That's why the town hates Regina. They can see themselves in her, and they don't like what they see. You can't change that." He locked eyes with the Charmings. "You can't force an entire town to stop hating to see their own behaviors or potential behaviors reflected in what they see when they encounter Regina."

"No, I suppose you can't." David heavily sighed. "So what do we do?"

"Regina has the right idea," Gold said with a shrug. "Emma has to be trained to better control herself."

"But we can at least alert the town not to intentionally provoke Regina so they don't accidentally provoke Emma, can't we?" Mary Margret looked pleadingly around at the assembled people in the diner.

"And what good will that do? She can't learn to control herself if everyone is walking on eggshells all the time whenever they're around the two of them. No," Gold adamantly shook his head, "it's a poor choice to try to act anything less or more than how we are with regard to Regina. Emma needs to learn, and the only way to do that is through exposure and practice."

"So we have to wait it out and prepare for possible casualties?" Whale rolled his eyes. "Fantastic."

"At least we know," Granny replied, a disapproving frown on her face. "That's more than a lot of us knew two hours ago about any of this."

"We were trying to keep it relatively quiet to give Emma and Regina time with each other to… um… to adjust and for Emma to learn some control." Mary Margaret groaned. "This isn't going to end well, is it?"

"It might." Ruby shrugged again. "If this is the worst thing we have to deal with in this town, I'd say we're doing okay. I mean, so long as some big bad doesn't come back in while Emma is learning how to reel it in, we might be fine, right?"

"Yes, because that's how things work in this town." Whale pulled a mocking face at her. "It's _always_ just _one_ potentially terrible thing that happens, _not_ two or three all at once."

"He's got a point," Granny said with a grave nod. "Whenever it rains, it pours around here. Maybe we should think of a plan to deal with Emma, just in case something else happens?"

"Like what?" David shook his head in confusion. "Who else is there left to deal with at this point?"

"Well," Blue finally spoke up from her quiet observation post opposite Leroy at the bar, "there's Jafar, though I think he was subdued in Wonderland, and the Snow Queen, whom I'm not sure is connected to any of us but who knows at this point, Maleficent hasn't shown up but she's certainly connected to Regina, Madam Mim and Merlin are rumored to have had issues with her as have The Horned King and Ursula, she and Yzma had an altercation regarding a shape shifting potion but I think Yzma is no longer a threat due to some situation that happened to her in her own kingdom, and I wouldn't put it past her to have some kind of run in with Cruella or Doctor Facilier. However, I know for a fact he's no longer a threat."

"How do you even _know_ all of that?" Leroy narrowed his eyes at her. "What else do you know that you're not telling us?"

"All I'm saying is that Regina's past is sordid, and, just because things are relatively smooth right now, it doesn't mean that someone powerful won't pop up to take revenge because of something she's done in the past." Blue gave a judgmental shake of her head. "Regina has done many bad things to many people."

"Who weren't gems themselves," Ruby commented roughly. "No one on that list is a good guy, assuming they're all real. I haven't heard of half of those people, unless you count the Disney movies."

"They're real," Gold affirmed. "Unfortunately," he added under his breath.

"Wait," David held his hand up as the gears worked in his head. "Does that mean the Marvel Universe is real, too?"

"If it is, I wouldn't know," Gold answered, clearly annoyed. "_And, _if it _does_ exist and Regina somehow managed to get in contact with that realm and make new friends there, I don't know about that, either."

"Oh, well, that's great." Whale crossed his arms, his face twitching . "Not only do we have to worry about people from realms we know exist who Regina has pissed off, but we also have to worry about, what? Loki, The Red Skull, and Thanos?"

Gold smirked and gave a noncommittal shrug. "Perhaps."

"I hate this place," the doctor growled as he plopped back down into his seat.

"Okay, all of that aside," David called out to keep anyone else from adding their two cents, "what we're all here to discuss is how to handle Emma and Regina. Yes, I agree we should have some contingency plans just in case something else happens _while _this issue with the two of them is going on, but let's not lose sight of our main goal here. I say we alert the town but stress that we shouldn't act any differently around them, and, in the meantime, we can meet up in the next couple of days to come up with a backup plan for emergencies regarding other potential issues that might arise. Okay?" He looked around the room, making eye contact with each person, and nonverbally daring them to counter what he'd just declared. When no one disagreed, he nodded his. "Okay, good, so let's call it a night, and we'll regroup tomorrow."

In hushed tones, the people in the diner left while they discussed the issue among themselves, leaving the Charmings, Ruby, and Granny alone.

Mary Margaret scowled in thought. "What if something _does _happen while Emma is learning to control her magic?"

David gave her a reassuring hug. "Then we'll deal with it."

"But we're going to hope that doesn't happen," Ruby added with a not-so-reassuring smile.

* * *

"I can't leave the house," Emma declared as soon as the front door closed behind them. "I'm going to accidentally kill someone."

"No, you're not," Regina replied in a somewhat amused tone. "We're going to continue to work on yourself control, and, eventually, it'll be fine for you to wonder among the peasants again."

The blonde gave the other woman a hard look for the use of the word peasants but let it go. "Thanks for saving Leroy."

"About that," Regina spoke while she bent down to pull off her heels, "I feel you owe me one. I've never liked that dwarf."

"He takes some getting use to." Giving a little groan, Emma shook her head. "I really thought I could control it."

"And so you did, and very well for a first try." Moving both shoes to one hand, Regina reached over to place her free hand on the younger woman's cheek. "You did very well, Emma, and I'm proud of your restraint."

Jerking away from the comforting touch and crossing her arms, Emma took a step back. "I threw him across the room!"

"Yes, but you didn't instantly kill him or set him on fire or any other of countless options that could have happened." Regina took a step forward, reaching out to put her hand on Emma's arm. "I know how difficult it is to maintain control when all you want to do is lash out. It's very draining. Truly, dear, you did very well."

"Is that why you seem like an emotionless bitch whenever someone pisses you off?" Emma frowned, her lips forming a fine line. "Is it because you're trying to control your magic, and it makes you have to box up your emotions?"

"Well, I don't think I've ever thought of it in that way, but, yes, that's very likely." Sighing, Regina lightly pulled on the other woman's arm to indicate they should head up the stairs. As they moved to the bedroom, she let the thought roll over in her mind, and, once they were safely tucked away behind two closed doors and in the process of changing into night clothes, she finally broke the silence. "You have to compartmentalize it. I think that's why I've never had the regrets people assume I must feel for the things I've done."

Emma looked up from brushing her teeth. "You mean because you put things in boxes, so you can just tuck it away and pretend it never happened?"

The brunette gave a sharp shake of her head. "No. I know and recognize everything I've done. What I mean is that I see the different things I've done as being parts of various situations, which don't apply to each other. As such, I have no regrets because the end result of each situation was justified based on the original cause and my reason for doing whatever I did in that one particular situation. I suppose, if I were a different type of person, I would see my life a whole as opposed to cut into many different pieces, and, in doing so, I might regret some of my actions because I would link them to other things."

"But you don't?" Emma dried her face and began to apply lotion. "Because you compartmentalize, which is how you control your emotions…" She frowned in thought. "Because what that person is attacking you for isn't something you consider relevant to now because it happened back then, and that is in a different box that you don't have a reason to reopen?"

"Something like that, yes, which is why it doesn't bother me whenever someone like your grumpy dwarf friend decides to accuse me of something I haven't done or that I did in the past." Regina stepped back from the sinks to give the younger woman a little space to finish whatever else she needed to do before they went back to the bedroom. "If it's not relevant to what is currently happening, then I see no reason to dwell upon it."

"So you're suggesting I learn to do something like that?" Emma turned around, fresh faced and quite a bit more wary looking with her makeup removed. "You think that, if I can put things in boxes, it'd be easier for me to control my magic?"

"Perhaps? If you can recognize that what those people out there are saying about me is of no consequence in the now, maybe you can let the emotions which arise from what they're saying go, and, in so doing, you would definitely have better control of your magic." Reaching out, Regina took the blonde's hand and pulled her in for a chaste kiss. "I'll deny it if anyone asks, but I _do_ actually enjoy having a knight in shining armor of my very own. However, I'd rather you use your words than your magic. Don't you think that would be better?"

"Yeah." Emma leaned in for another kiss. "And now I just want to get some rest. How about you?"

Regina smiled, replying gently, "Yes, I think that's a wonderful idea."


	8. Practice

"Sooooo, we're gonna go in there?" The big brute of a man asked in a confused and somewhat cynical voice.

His companion rubbed her temples with the pads of her fingers to try to keep the headache at bay. She'd been explaining her plan to him for almost half an hour so far. She was afraid it might go at least that long more. "Yes," she hissed at him.

He cocked an eyebrow. "Through the portal?"

"Yes," she groaned, "through the portal."

"And we're going to find Regina," he continued as he stared into the swirling portal of purple and green.

She sighed heavily. "Correct."

"And, after we find her, we're going to," he rubbed his hand across his chin in thought, "capture her and then… do something to her. I'm sorry," he looked back to the woman, "What was that last part again?"

She ran a hand down her face as her jaw flexed with her irritation. "We're going to kill her."

"Kill her. Right." He nodded to himself, stopped, and then pulled his face down into a scowl. "Why are we going to kill her?"

Releasing an aggravated growl, she threw her hands up. "How many times do I have to tell you, Krunk? She destroyed any possibility I had… _we _had of taking over the throne when she switched the labels on my transformation potions, and we were nearly put to death for treason because of it."

"Because the king said we were traitors, which I guess is kind of true since, you know, we were trying to usurp him and everything." He shrugged nonchalantly. "I mean, he kind of has a point when you think about it."

"She set us up," she bellowed. "She knew _exactly_ what would happen when she switched those potions. She did it so the king would figure out what was happening and prevent me from following through with our plan. She _wanted_ us to get caught so she could get away with my potions book and most of my potions without having to worry about us coming after her!"

"Oh, yeah, there's that." He scratched at the back of his head. "Of course, maybe we should have seen it coming. I mean, her name _is _The Evil Queen. It's not like her name is The Trustworthy Queen or The Honest Queen or The Good Person Quee…"

"Enough," she spat at him. "It doesn't matter anymore. What matters is that we're not dead, and now we can get our revenge."

"I don't know, Yzma. I mean, what if we just let it go? You know, let bygones be bygones? The king's been a really great guy about the whole treason thing. After he calmed down from being a llama for that week, he eventually let us go. All he wants us to do is live away from the castle and not do magic stuff anymore, and he won't kill us. Isn't using this portal thing using magic stuff, which is exactly what he told us _not_ to do?"

"He'll never know. We'll go wherever Regina is hiding out now days, find her, kill her, and be back before the king even notices we're not around." She pointed to a large bag on the floor. "Now, pick that up, and let's get going. You know what to do."

Krunk nodded, pulled the large and overly packed bag onto his shoulder, and stepped up behind her where she stood in front of the portal. "Okay, do you have everything? Did you pack your toothpaste? Did we remember to ask Mrs. Rosenburg next door to water the plants? Did I turn the oven…"

Yzma rolled her eyes. "Just pull the lever, Krunk."

"Right. Gotchya. Pulling the lever." Reaching out to the lever beside him, he pulled it, catapulting them both through the portal.

* * *

"Okay, kid, spray me with the water hose," Emma yelled from across the backyard.

Henry glanced at Regina, who nodded her approval. Apprehensively, he turned the hose on his blonde mother and winced as it made a perfect arc to hit her face.

Emma laughed as the water bent away from her. "Ha!"

"Not bad," Regina called out, "but how do you do with two different types of distractions?"

The blonde had expected some kind of magical attack, so, when Regina walked over to her and wrapped her arms around her from behind, it took all of her concentration to keep the water at bay. "What the hell, Regina?"

"Do try to keep me dry, dear. You know how I hate it when my hair gets wet." Glancing over to Henry, the brunette nodded.

Henry began to grin. Moving around in a random pattern, he tried to hit Regina instead of Emma. The first shot hit his brunette mother on the side, and she yelped as the cold water splashed across her back.

"Oh god, Regina, what if I hurt him," Emma asked in panic. She tried to refocus to protect the woman wrapped around her.

"You won't," the older woman stated without doubt. "You would never hurt Henry. Remember, Emma, your magic is reacting to your subconscious. It's not a monster living inside of you acting and reacting on its own. You would never hurt Henry, regardless of the situation, which is why he's the perfect person to do this with. Now concentrate so we don't end up taking a second shower together today."

Their son made mock gagging noises. "Oh, jeez, too much information!" They both ignored him, which made him roll his eyes and refocus on trying to hit Regina with the water.

"Earlier we were afraid he'd get hurt, though," the younger woman continued to protest. "What changed?"

"I remembered a lesson from my early days of learning magic." Regina grunted. Henry had managed to land a squirt of water directly on the back of her head. "One that taught me magic reacts to what I think and feel, and I _know_ how you feel about our son, so I've come to decide he is in no real danger."

"Hey, Mom?" Henry rolled his eyes, realizing too late his mistake as they both looked at him in answer. "Okay, new rule. I'm going to call Emma 'Ma' and Regina 'Mom." He sighed because everything always seemed to have to be complicated and confusing with his life. "Hey, Mom," he tried again.

Regina shifted to get a better look at him over Emma's shoulder. "Yes, sweetheart?"

"When we're done with this, could we have a movie night?" He flicked the hose back and forth in a zigzag pattern. Much to his relief, his other mother managed to keep Regina dry. "Maybe something funny like Groundhog Day?"

She winced. "Oh, Henry, that movie…" A blast of cold water hit her in the behind, causing her to yelp. "MISS SWAN!"

"Sorry," Emma apologetically replied, though she grinned just enough to make her apology less than authentic.

"Come on, Mom, we used to watch it all the time when I was young," their son pleaded.

"Yes, and, because of that, I never want to hear Sonny and Cher's 'I Got You, Babe' again in this lifetime or any other," she declared emphatically. "Really, Henry, couldn't we watch something else?"

He whined just a touch. "But I really like that movie. It's my sick day movie, and the past six months have been pretty much one really long sick day. Come on, Mom! You know you love that movie."

"I know that he only relived the same day for 34 years, whereas _I _…" A stream of water hit her directly in the face. She gurgled for a moment, sputtering out water and wiped at her eyes. "Henry!"

"Sorry, Mom," he said with about as much authentic apology as his other mother had given a moment before.

"Come on, Regina, it's a classic movie. Why don't we watch it, order a pizza, and make it a family night? Maybe play a board game or something, and Henry can spend the night. What do you say? Family bonding night?" Emma turned her head to try to look at the brunette behind her. "We can make it a weekly thing."

"Fine, but I get to choose the movie next week." Regina didn't so much give in as she didn't bother to fight. If Emma and Henry wanted to spend time as a family unit with her, then she wasn't going to push them away. The two gave a little cheer of approval. "I'll make the pizza, though. I don't like how greasy the pizza is from that place."

"Cool! Can I help?" Henry swung the hose around to try to hit Regina in the head again. This time, Emma effectively blocked it. He gave her an approving look. "And can we have ham and pineapples?"

"Yes and yes," Regina answered, relief clear in her voice at not being hit in the head again. "Another twenty minutes of this, and then we can go inside, shower, and start on dinner. How does that sound?"

"I _do _like showers," Emma said with a smirk. She waggled her eyebrows at their son just to make sure to get a rise out of him.

"Oh, man, really?" He make a disgusted face. "I'm glad you two are together and everything, but I really _do not_ need to know the details. No one wants to know about their parents having…"

"Henry!" Regina grunted, angrily poking the other woman in the ribs. "Look what you've started. What have you been teaching him while I haven't been around?"

"Don't be mad at Ma, Mom. I'm practically a teenager, and it's not like I live under a rock. I get it, and it's cool. I just don't want to _think _about it because you're my parents." He visibly shuddered. "Just, do us all a favor, and lock the bedroom door or put a sock on the knob or something so I don't accidentally walk in on you two."

The older woman's eyebrows went up to her hairline. "A sock on the door? What…"

Emma started to laugh, cutting into Regina's tirade. "We'll be discreet, kid. Okay?"

"That's all I ask," he replied with relief. "And, Mom, don't freak out about stuff. Ma and I had the talk last year, and I haven't done anything stupid, and I don't plan to."

Regina rested her forehead on Emma's shoulder. "My little boy isn't so little anymore, is he?"

"Afraid not," the younger woman replied quietly. "But he's turning into a good man."

"Yes, he is," the brunette replied proudly before yelping again as the stream of water hit her on the neck.

Henry laughed. "Sorry, Mom!"

* * *

**Whoo-hoo! Continuity from the first story!**


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